The maker of Jack Daniel’s whiskey bowed to pressure on social media and announced it was backing away from DEI efforts after “anti-woke” activists said they were preparing to launch a boycott.
Brown-Forman Co., the liquor giant with a market capitalization of $21.37 billion, is the latest company to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, joining Harley-Davidson Co., Tractor Supply Co. and John Deere Co.
Major companies with customers in Republican states are bowing to boycott pressure from business activist Robbie Starbuck, who said Jack Daniel’s was next, but says the company changed its mind before he had a chance to lead the boycott.
“We’re currently forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies without even posting them because they’re scared they’ll be the next company we go after,” Starbuck said on X.
Brown-Forman will stop linking bonuses and salaries to DEI progress, stop participating in an annual ranking of companies with LGBTQ-friendly environments, and abandon plans to promote a more diverse supplier group. According to a copy of the internal memo posted to X..
The company previously tied 10% of executives’ short-term compensation to progress on DEI goals. According to the 2023 annual report.
The Kentucky-based company first set DEI goals in 2019.
“Since then, the world has evolved, our business has changed and the legal and external environment, particularly in the United States, has shifted dramatically,” company executives said in a letter to employees on Wednesday.
“Given these new trends, we need to be cognizant of the current environment and adjust our operations to continue to drive business outcomes.”
Brown-Forman shares fell less than 1% on Thursday.
Just a few years ago, social activists called on major corporations to implement comprehensive DEI programs, but now those same companies are fielding calls, led primarily by Starbucks on X, to scale back those targets.
“The words diversity, equity and inclusion sound like good things,” Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management, told The Washington Post, “but the way companies phrase it means they’re excluding other employees who could potentially perform better.”
Mahoney said companies including Tesla, Home Depot, Wayfair and Walmart have phased out their DEI leadership goals since consumers began threatening boycotts.
“Consumers feel like companies are scoring points instead of hiring the best talent, and it’s hurting their image,” Mahoney told the Post. “And this is not how this consumer demographic was raised.”
Only 38% of Americans want companies to take a position on current issues and policies. According to a Gallup-Bentley University survey,.
And the goals of DEI have become more political, with conservative activists calling these programs unfair and liberal activists saying the exact opposite.
In addition to its DEI policy, Starbucks targets companies that participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s LGBTQ-Friendly Workplaces rankings, which previously awarded Brown-Forman a perfect score of 100.
“Jack Daniels has clearly come to the tough conclusion that focusing too much on anything other than merit isn’t going to make it profitable,” psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert told The Washington Post.
“In fact, we only need to look at Target and Bud Light to see that going from retailer to social justice warrior doesn’t lead to the best results, increased sales and improved public image.”
Last year, Target lost $10 billion in its market capitalization in 10 days after customers boycotted the company after it introduced a Pride collection that included children’s clothes.
Target shareholders filed a lawsuit against the company last year after their stock price fell by $20,000 during the Pride Collection controversy.
Bud Light sales have plummeted since the beer company began advertising last year featuring transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Alpert said DEI policies can create a sense of inequity and alienate employees.
The doctor said he had become resentful of the policies because he felt his patients were being missed out on promotions and jobs because of their ethnic background or sexual orientation.
“If DEI efforts were working, we wouldn’t be talking about it by now,” Alpert told the Post. “Indeed, more companies would be on board, but they aren’t.”
