Companies from Harley-Davidson to John Deere are backing down on DEI
August 20, 20240
Harley-Davidson said that it would drop diversity-related programs following conservative backlash.
Georg Wend/Getty Images
On Tuesday, Harley-Davidson said on X that it would drop diversity-based spending goals from suppliers, halt socially motivated employee training, and withdraw from an annual LGBTQ acceptance rating by the Human Rights Campaign, Bloomberg reported.
Harley told Bloomberg that the company was “saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community,” following Starbuck’s calls on X for the company to apologize and change its policies.
John Deere
Tractor Supply was the target of a social media campaign that led to a pullback of DEI programs in June.
Tractor Supply Co.
Tractor Supply significantly scaled back its DEI programs, including eliminating diversity roles and withdrawing from Pride event sponsorship. The company also announced that it would no longer provide data to the Human Rights Campaign, and it would end its carbon emission goals. This came after Starbuck’s criticized the company for promoting what he labeled as “woke” policies, NPR reported in June.
Polaris
Polaris was not a target of Starbuck, but chose to cut DEI efforts in a bid to abstain from political conversation.
Bruce Bisping/Getty Images
While Starbuck did not specifically target Polaris, the Harley competitor has reduced its DEI efforts, including removing any mention of the term from its web pages. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company emphasized its intention to abstain from political discussion.
Harley-Davidson, John Deere, Tractor Supply, and Polaris did not respond to requests for comment by Business Insider sent outside business hours.
