Over the course of the past several years, companies of all types have embraced an increasingly leftist social agenda much to the displeasure of many consumers.
A growing number of those businesses, however, are beginning to listen to their vocal critics and scale back or completely eliminate such aspects of their operation in order to focus on simply offering the products or services their customers expect.
One major home-improvement chain recently became the latest to join this trend after receiving a message from conservative pundit Robby Starbuck.
Big news: I messaged @Lowes executives last week to let them know that I planned to expose their woke policies. This morning I woke up to an email where they preemptively made big changes.
Here are the changes:
• Ending participation in the @HRC’s woke Corporate Equality Index… pic.twitter.com/qOUr2JLGV7
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 26, 2024
As the Daily Wire reported:
In an internal memo from the executive leadership team, Lowe’s said that it had started reevaluating its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies after the Supreme Court ruled against race-based affirmative action programs at universities.
“Like many other companies, in July 2023 after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Harvard/UNC cases, we began reviewing our diversity and inclusion programs to ensure that they are lawful and aligned with our commitment to include everyone in the incredible opportunities at Lowe’s and ensure that no one is excluded,” the company wrote in the memo.
The company said it had made changes in response which include no longer participating with the Human Rights Campaign survey and putting employee resource groups under one umbrella instead of separating the employees by identity. Lowe’s added that it would no longer be sponsoring festivals, parades, and fairs but focus any philanthropic work on safe and affordable housing, disaster relief, and skilled trades education.
Social media users have chronicled several similar developments in recent months, many having occurred in response to similar efforts by Starbuck:
Brown Foreman Corp, Jack Daniels, is following Harley Davidson ending its quest of DEI Goals! Executive Compensation will no longer be linked to DEI goals & objectives.
Suppliers will no longer have to meet stupid DEI initiatives!
We are back to making and selling booze DEI free! pic.twitter.com/4qisiC0luL— Fixing America 🇺🇸 (@PhillipDenton) August 22, 2024
Harley-Davidson released a statement saying they were moving away from their existing DEI initiative. The statement reads: "It is critical to our business that we hire and retain the best talent and that all employees feel welcome." #Diversity #DEI#harleydavidson pic.twitter.com/8wrWL24psI
— Mr. Lincoln 🇺🇲🔺️ (@MrLincolnUSA) August 20, 2024
6/27/2024: Tractor Supply ends DEI.
7/16/2024: John Deere & Co ends DEI.
8/19/2024: Harley-Davidson ends DEI.
8/21/2024: Jack Daniels (TN) ends DEI.@RobbyStarbuck is an absolute beast. https://t.co/uV3zJKTuPa— Scott Adams (@scottadamsshow) August 23, 2024
The New York Post offered additional coverage of the recent Lowe’s decision:
The company will not be sponsoring or participating in community events such as parades, festivals, or fairs and might also make additional changes to the policies over time, according to the memo, which was confirmed by a company spokesperson.
Over the past few years, companies including JPMorgan Chase have faced a larger conservative backlash against diversity initiatives which multiplied after widespread protests following the police killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans in 2020.
Fox News was covering this ongoing development more than a year ago:
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