The Scoop: Another company abandons DE&I initiatives after outcry from conservative activist
Plus: Tech outage rocks the world; Trump stays surprisingly quiet on Biden.
Facing mounting criticism from a conservative activist, John Deere, the world’s largest seller of farm equipment, has announced plans to dial back some of its diversity and inclusion initiatives.
In one critical X post on July 9, Robby Starbuck, a filmmaker-turned-conservative pundit, outlined a lengthy list of “gone woke” initiatives created under the watch of CEO John May’s watch. It referenced everything from having race, sexuality and gender-based groups at corporate to achieving a score of 95 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s CEI scorecard.
“What’s unknown is whether CEO John May is knowingly forcing these policies or if it’s gotten out of control and he’s out of the loop on how bad it is,” the lengthy social media post states. “His response to this story will be very revealing as to his culpability in the implementation of woke policies.”
To announce its decision, Deere issued a public statement indicating it has a “diverse workforce” and pledged to “continue to track and advance the diversity of the organization,” according to the Wall Street Journal. However, it vowed to keep any “socially motivated messages” from its training materials and policies unless otherwise required, The statement also insists it won’t participate in or support “social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events,” which, if we read between the lines, will likely most impact Pride parades.
Starbuck took a similar successful approach with Tractor Supply Company, a feed and tractor store, which suspended its DE&I efforts in late June.
Why it matters: It appears now we have a real answer to that hypothetical question. And that answer is yes.
These changes not only show the potential power of social media criticism, but highlight the importance of how an organization responds. Tractor Supply and Deere were susceptible targets for Starbuck largely due to their typical male, Midwestern and conservative customer base.
John Deere did not make as abrupt an about-face on DE&I as Tractor Supply Company did. It appears they are attempting to maintain internal diversity initiatives even as they reduce some external-facing activities.
The out-of-both-sides-of-the-mouth doesn’t really do much for the company. They can claim to still have a commitment to diversity and inclusion, but in many times actions speak louder than words – and the company has now stated it doesn’t want to take the necessary actions to display the values they claim to possess. And their answer has not satisfied critics, either: “Another huge win in our war on wokeness BUT I don’t think this is enough for customers to go back,” Starbuck said on X.
Now, no one is happy and Starbuck is already teasing its next target.
Editor’s top reads:
- A faulty security update from cybersecurity-software company CrowdStrike has caused a global technology fiasco, resulting in computer issues – if not blue-screen-of-death outages – for millions Microsoft Windows users, per the Wall Street Journal. CrowdStrike’s stock price took a hit, as did Microsoft’s, which appeared to be the only OS type to suffer issues. But also taking huge hits are the numerous business users of that software that are receiving complaints from customers who can’t pay their utility bill or travel home from a business trip. Even though it’s not the fault of Visa or United Airlines, their customers likely won’t see it that way, which makes using the right messaging so important. Mass General Brigham in Boston – which had to cancel all elective surgeries on Friday – is a perfect example. The healthcare system issued a statement that addresses the situation, reiterates the cause is not of its doing and goes on to list the affected services in simple, clear language. It also closes with an apology. Even if it’s not the hospital’s fault, it’s an acknowledgement of having for the inconvenience of having to reschedule a medical procedure.
- Donald Trump used a prime-time speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention to accept his party’s nomination and voice a desire to develop a unified front as a party. Perhaps his most interesting comments, though, were the ones he didn’t make. In the past, Trump never wasted an opportunity to attack his presumptive opponent, President Joe Biden, on any number of issues. But on Thursday, Trump only mentioned Biden’s name twice: Once to describe Biden as the worst president in history, and again to say it would be the only time it was used, according to CNN. Part of that was because of Trump’s campaign desire to showcase the “forward-looking Republican Party,” per CNN. But it may also reflect a belief that Biden won’t be his opponent. Ahead of Trump’s speech, a chorus of news organizations reported that top Democrats are working harder to get Biden to drop out of the race. The Hill speculated major news about Biden’s campaign may happen as soon as Sunday.
- Earlier this week, we pondered what impact a scathing report on Amazon’s warehouse practices might have on this year’s Prime Day sales campaign. It appears none at all. CNBC reported U.S. shoppers spent a record $14.2 billion during the two-day online event, up 11% year over year. Amazon issued a strong, fact-heavy refutation of claims made in the report presented by the office of Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont). Had Amazon not been able to defend its situation with strong messaging, there may have been some pushback. Having a really well-marketed campaign about sales on televisions and back-to-school supplies probably didn’t hurt.
Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. You can follow him on LinkedIn.
The conversations that I have daily with PR, Comms and other leaders include the idea that anyone using the word ‘woke’ is a fool. It’s a term adopted to fuel the anti-employee movement sponsored by businesses like Starbucks, Amazon, Tesla and AT&T. Abandoning pro-employee programs will make it harder for businesses to attract and retain talent and have been shown to have a detrimental impact on business performance.