Jennifer Sey writes for the Washington Examiner about an interesting development in the world of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Amid the COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter chaos of June 2020, Brett Craig was ousted as the chief creative officer from the largest ad agency on the West Coast. He wrote an email in response to a voice casting recommendation from a member of his team: “Not so urban.” His point was that the voice felt stereotypically “black” and that this particular voice would read as racist and pandering.
But that summer, it was posted on Instagram as an indictment. A nothing email, held on to for five years, was opportunistically blasted in the heat of the BLM riots to paint Craig as an unrepentant racist.
Craig was ushered out the door just a few days later, after eight years as a loyal employee who delivered results. The company had done its penance and sacrificed one of its own.In the summer of 2020, companies across the country denounced their own complicity in furthering racism and the murder of George Floyd. Executives were frantic that if they failed to exhibit enough piety for the moment and allegiance to the cause, they would be ousted and their companies canceled.
They weren’t wrong. …
… [N]ow, four years later, companies are abandoning their black square commitments.So far, Tractor Supply, John Deere, Molson Coors, Ford Motor Company, Lowe’s, and Harley Davidson have publicly abandoned their DEI programs. Other larger companies have partially abandoned their programs: Microsoft cut DEI roles, and Starbucks removed DEI requirements from management bonuses.
Why? Some have moved away from DEI due to public pressure. Influencer Robby Starbuck has started a social media campaign of equal force to those initiated in 2020 by the BLM caucus. He is publicly shaming all-American companies that have DEI practices in play, and he has targeted good old American brands for a reason. Their fans and consumers reject these policies as un-American.
