Why so Many Brands Have Broken Their DEI Promises
On June 6, 2024, a 35-year-old Tennessean named Robby Starbuck got wind of something that ticked him off. Tractor Supply, the retail chain where Starbuck bought feed for the cattle on his 12-acre ranch, had adopted multiple policies and initiatives aimed at fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI.)
And so Starbuck, a former music video director who’s amassed a considerable social-media following as a conservative activist, logged onto his X account.
“It’s time to expose Tractor Supply,” Starbuck wrote, citing “LGBTQIA+ events at work” and “DEI hiring practices” among his grievances. “We don’t want our hard-earned money spent on these woke priorities,” he wrote.
A few weeks later—coincidentally or not—Tractor Supply issued a statement announcing that it planned to “eliminate DEI roles and retire our current DEI goals.”
With that notch on his holster (“I realized, hey, this is repeatable,” he told USAToday), Starbuck set his sights on other companies including Ford, Molson Coors, and Harley Davidson. These brands join John Deere, Lowe’s, and Target on a roster of major companies that have ended or severely curtailed their DEI policies. None would agree to speak with ADWEEK.
Starbuck—who also did not respond to a request for comment—has been so widely credited with spooking corporations about diversity that it’s easy to overlook a larger point: it’s taken more than one man and his X postings to get to where we are now. A matrix of political, social, and economic factors has been necessary for brands to change their tune on diversity.
A threat from 13 states
When major news outlets began reporting on companies walking back their DEI promises earlier this summer, it was easy to assume that the about-face had happened overnight. But the corporate retreat actually started at least a year ago, well before commentators like Starbuck—and business titans like hedge-fund mogul Bill Ackman, who’s called DEI policies “racist“—grabbed headlines.
On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court halted four decades of precedent when it struck down affirmative action in college admissions. While that decision didn’t address corporate hiring, it clearly led to what came next.
