Are you seeing or sensing any backlash for any of these brands? “Corporations Face Backlash For Ending DEI Initiatives While Using Black Celebs For Advertising.”
https://atlantadailyworld.com/2024/12/13/corporations-face-backlash-for-ending-dei-initiatives-while-using-black-celebs-for-advertising/?amp=1
For me, this is related to the concept of greenwashing. When you look into what these DEI initiatives were trying to do before, some were better than others. The complete folding of many of them though is disappointing. Going forward I will be a lot more skeptical when a company announces they are doing something good with DEI.
Pro
Same here. The skepticism will be high.
I suspect a lot of these companies are making a public show of cutting DEI programs just to avoid the political backlash. There's a very well-funded propaganda operation aimed at eliminating diversity in this country, and the incoming administration has promised to persecute companies that promote diversity. I imagine the companies are just trying to avoid a lot of hassles, and it may be a year or two before we can really assess what's happening.
Pro
This part. Grifters are emboldened coming out of this election and they will be motivated. You see this a lot in video games.
Honestly, I haven’t seen her or anything. It’s frustrating but I just don’t know what to do. Seems like DEI programs are getting cut left and right and it’s only gonna get worse going forward so I don’t know how much representation we can expect.
Pro
We can have collective impact with our dollars spent. Will we? Probably not, but that’s where I’d like to see us start.
I think that DEI programs are getting cut not because the companies are embracing racism but because it's been shown that these programs are ineffective. What's the alternative here? They don't hire any black actors for commercials? That would be real racism. I'm not suggesting that corporations are cutting DEI spending for the greater good of their employees (I think it's a cost-saving measure at the end of the day) but the mental gymnastics here of trying to figure out why DEI is being cut but black actors are being hired seems a little more obvious than this article is making it out to be. Also I'm not seeing any backlash lol
Pro
I think we don’t have a definitive idea of what DEI programs “working” looks like. they should be tied to outcomes like retention and upward mobility, which are then tied back to performance KPIs but that’s rarely the case. Instead, DEI programs are watered down to cultural potlucks and other BS making them easy to cut.
A few weeks back I shared a piece about an org that had a strong DEI program and it was built around some of the outcomes mentioned. We need more of that
Pro
Do I foresee any backlash? No. Many of these organizations are so entrenched in society that they know they can get away with this in the first place. Consumers won’t hold them accountable or can’t really do so long term. It’s an unfortunate outcome of capitalism being so strong here.
I honestly don't forsee there being much backlash either sadly.