Disney, Target Among Major Companies Ditching DEI
Corporate giants including Disney and Target have jettisoned “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) policies following President Trump’s evisceration of federal DEI infrastructure.
DEI encompasses programs, initiatives and policies ostensibly elevating “marginalized people groups.” In practice, companies use DEI to justify doling out jobs, promotions and wages to people of a certain race, sex or “gender identity.”
Mr. Trump signed four executive orders targeting DEI on his first day in office, fulfilling his promise to “end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of private life.”
One of these orders, titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” changed rules for federal contractors. Now, companies that do business with the federal government must be DEI-free.
This order poses a big problem for many recognizable companies, some of whom spent years injecting DEI into every aspect of their business model.
Here are some of the biggest names to ditch DEI following President Trump’s inauguration.
A once-stalwart defendant of DEI and LGBT Pride, Target stepped away from DEI just four days after Mr. Trump signed his DEI orders.
Internal memos obtained by Forbes indicate the retailer will:
- Stop participating in third party DEI surveys like the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
- Halt “Racial Equity Action and Change” initiatives, which reportedly included “anti-racism training for employees, a focus on hiring and promoting black employees and sourcing more products from black employees.”
- Halt its “three-year diversity, equity and inclusion goals,” which were reportedly intended to “increase hiring and promotions of employees of color and women, and to increase its spending on diverse suppliers.”
Target claims the latter two sets of programs were already set to expire.
Google told employees it would cease setting DEI hiring quotas in early February, The Wall Street Journal reports. It’s an abrupt about-face from 2020, when the search engine giant vowed to spend the next five years growing its proportion of “leadership representation of underrepresented groups” by 30%.
The change comes amid a larger audit of the company’s DEI policies and initiatives aimed toward rooting out those that “raise risk, or that aren’t as impactful as [Google had] hoped.”
Disney will be tailoring its DEI programs to “focus more closely on business outcomes,” according to an internal memo obtained by Axios. So far, changes include:
- Removing DEI content warnings against “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of other peoples or cultures” from movies like Dumbo and Peter Pan. Instead, Disney will include an abridged warning in the movies’ descriptions.
- Axing it’s Reimagine Tomorrow initiative, which included a website “highlighting stories and talent from underrepresented communities.”
- Replacing it’s “Diversity and Inclusion” performance rating, which qualified DEI candidates for promotions and pay raises, with a new rating called “Talent Strategy.” The replacement category will reportedly be “more focused on how values drive business success.”
Disney’s emphasis on aligning “inclusivity” with good business is telling; DEI took a dire toll on the company’s bottom line. In 2023 alone, Disney lost $1 billion on four movies criticized for “pushing political agendas and storylines.”
An internal memo published to social media indicates Pepsi will:
- Abandon DEI hiring quotas.
- Replace its “Supplier Diversity Program” with one uplifting all small businesses, regardless of the race, religion or sex of their owners.
- Change the “Chief DEI Officer” position to one focused on “employee development.”
PepsiCo and its competitor, Coca-Cola are negotiating federal contracts. It’s not yet clear what Coke will do to meet the Trump Administration’s DEI-free contractor criteria.
An internal memo obtained by The New York Times suggests the parent company of BET, MTV and Paramount film studio will:
- No longer adhere to DEI hiring quotas.
- Stop asking applicants for their sex, race or “gender identity.”
- Stop offering DEI-related raises and promotions.
The entertainment company was all in on DEI just a couple of months ago. An archived version of its now defunct DEI website reads:
Paramount has financial inventive to fall in line with federal DEI policy. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reviewing Paramount’s proposed merger with Skydance Media.
The FCC’s chairman, Brendan Carr, hasn’t hesitated to investigate DEI policies — which he has called “invidious forms of discrimination” — at other entertainment companies. Mr. Trump’s “Ending Illegal Discrimination” order “urges federal agencies to investigate the worst DEI policies and programs in corporate America, higher education and other settings,” which could embolden Carr to conduct investigations into companies like Paramount.
Warner Bros Discovery, like Paramount, will no longer adhere to DEI hiring quotas or ask applicants for their sex, race or “gender identity,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It also promised to stop participating in third-party DEI surveys.
The entertainment conglomerate did not, however, denounce DEI’s language or principles, telling staff it “plans to continue to tell inclusive and diverse stories and to build an ‘inclusive team’ through its recruiting and training programs.”
The variety of responses to President Trump’s executive order on DEI is an important reminder that legislation alone will not destroy DEI. Uprooting damaging ideologies requires changing hearts and minds.
That’s why citizens must do their utter best to refute principles of DEI in their homes, schools, churches and communities. Companies like Warner Bros Discovery won’t enthusiastically change their policies unless consumers show they are well and truly done with DEI.
Additional Articles and Resources
President Trump Ends Radical DEI Programs, Fires All DEI Personnel
Oklahoma Bans DEI in Universities and Government Agencies
Monique Duson: Responding to Critical Race Theory with Grace and Truth
Monique Duson: ‘Biblically Faithful and Sane Conversations on Race, Justice and Unity’
How to Talk With Your Kids About Racial Differences
Department of Education Blew $1 Billion on DEI – Here’s Why It Matters
