Retailing giants are facing new pushback following their DEI retreats
By: Yahoo Finance
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Unlock stock picks and a broker-level newsfeed that powers Wall Street.Upgrade Now Retailing giants are facing new pushback following their DEI retreats Alexis Keenan and Brooke DiPalma Fri, Feb 28, 2025, 4:00 AM 5 min read
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Some giant retailers that rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies are now feeling some pushback from their own customers and investors.
Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT) were among the many companies that announced recent about-faces on diversity, a list that also includes Google (GOOG), Meta (META), McDonald's (MCD), Amazon (AMZN), and Tractor Supply (TSCO).
Now all seven of those companies appear on a list of DEI rollbacks maintained by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as part of a "Black Consumer Advisory" initiative launched earlier this month designed to encourage support for businesses that expand their commitments to diversity.
"If corporations want our dollars, they better be ready to do the right thing," NAACP CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement announcing the project.
Target is also mentioned as a specific focal point of another advocacy group, Black Wall Street Ticker, that has called for a "corporate fast" from spending any money at the Minneapolis retailing giant roughly coordinating with the 40 days of Lent starting March 5 through April 17.
"To see companies we've supported heavily — like McDonald's, Ford Motors, Amazon, Meta, and Walmart— betray our long-standing relationship is beyond disheartening," the group says on its site, but "the greatest insult comes from Target."
Walmart has faced some repudiation, too, from some of its own investors. More than 30 shareholders representing $266 billion in assets sent a message last month to CEO Doug McMillon that called the retailer's recent DEI policy changes "very disheartening."
"As Walmart shareholders, we are also concerned to see our company give into bullying and pressure from anti-DEI groups," the group said in its letter.
The pushback illustrates the difficult spot many companies are in as they try to navigate new legal threats surrounding DEI from the courts, conservative activists, and a Trump administration that is encouraging DEI revisions across corporate America.
Retailers are particularly challenged because so many Americans rely on their products or visit their stores — and they often find themselves in the political spotlight for a multitude of reasons.
For example, today there is a separate call circulating online for Americans to spend nothing at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and major food chains like McDonald's on Friday, Feb. 28.
John Schwarz, a New York City resident and founder of the grassroots organization The People's Union, first called for this "economic blackout" in an Instagram video that gained more than 8 million views.
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Schwarz said he wants to end alleged price-gouging and tax avoidance by major corporations.
"If you have to go out and shop that day, go to a local business, a small, locally owned boutique. But if you can, don't go out and spend a dime that day."
Read more: Could Walmart replace your bank (and should it)?
Walmart CFO John David Rainey recently told Yahoo Finance that the retailer aims to keep prices low under tariff pressure, but the company did not respond to a request for comment on the call for boycotts.
Schwarz said his message advocating for price reductions became conflated with DEI.
"I support it, but I'm not connected to DEI," Schwarz said.
Pleas for DEI-based boycotts, however, may be having an effect on foot traffic. One retail analyst, Joe Feldman of Telsey Advisory Group, said he suspects shoppers are heeding those pleas based on a look at recent data — even though he can't be 100% certain.
"Is it more than that? Maybe," he said. "But I think that's a key driver."
For the week of Feb. 3, Walmart foot traffic was down 2.9% year over year, and Target foot traffic was down 8.6%, according to Placer.ai. Meanwhile Costco — a retailer that has affirmed its support for DEI policies and listed that way in the NAACP's "Black Consumer Advisory" — was up 5.7% year over year.
The following week of Feb. 10 also showed a decrease year over year for Walmart and Target, with foot traffic down 1.4% and 3.9%.
Costco (COST) showed a 4.6% rise.
"You can see it just dropped like a rock based on Placer.ai data," Feldman said about Target's decline in the three weeks after social media accounts started calling for retail boycotts.
Placer.ai's head of analytical research attributed lower foot traffic in February to "post-holiday spending pullbacks, decreased consumer confidence, weather, and other macroeconomic conditions."
Inclement weather, like the cold fronts that struck the Midwest, South, and Northeast or wildfires in California, would cause a shorter-term drop in traffic, Feldman added.
Target declined to comment on the cause.
·Brandon Bell via Getty Images
It is no stranger to political controversy. It faced a backlash two years ago following a Pride Month promotion, with Target CEO Brian Cornell saying the company's in-store staff faced "threats and aggressive actions" over the Pride Month merchandise even though the products had been in its stores for more than a decade.
Its website still highlights diversity by promoting a "Buy Black" option, even during Black History Month.
Among those who expressed public disappointment in Target's DEI changes were Anne and Lucy Dayton, the daughters of one of the company's co-founders, Bruce Dayton.
They published letters in the Financial Times and Los Angeles Times saying, "We are alarmed how quickly the business community has given in to the current administration's retaliatory threats."
"It is not 'illegal' for a company to create a business model based on what it believes to be important ethical and business standards," they wrote, adding that "by cowering, Target and others are undermining the very principles that have made their companies a success."
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I have to buy cigarettes today but I will go to my local cancer shop. I have to go out for lunch but I won't buy anything else today
Thanks for the heads up. I'll go spend money at these places today to support anti-racism.
... with all the big bills skimmed from the collection basket.
that would something new wouldn’t it Sean?
It's good to see that major corporations have decided to cater to the majority of consumers as opposed to virtue signaling to a small minority with obvious mental health issues.
huh, I didn't know those retailers sold maga merchandise ...
If they did it would be a far larger majority than a group with obvious mental health issues like gender dysphoria.
"DEI" opposition is born of the same ignorance that opposed critical race theory. The nitwits driving the complaint don't understand it. DEI is not a quota system or affirmative action.
The right goes apoplectic at the very sound of the words diversity and inclusion.
Racism and bigotry have been "normalized". "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is no longer an acceptable belief structure for the right (Reich) wing..
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those belief structures are still there with them, as long as you remember to insert maga before every noun ...
I actually forgot today was slated to be the national DEI boycott day, not that i would have been participating .
will probly do as well as other left wing corporate boycotts .
I would respond but I am busy shopping on amazon.com and target.com
yeah, it's probably a pretty long drive in any direction to find one of those retailers in that future landfill state ...
nah , 15-20 mins to the closest wally world .
The "new" pushback is by the same folks that got companies to implement the racist policies to begin with. I would doubt companies are willing to go down that same road again.
DEI is not just about race and gender. It's also about the disabled, religious freedom, and some other stuff
DEI gave Walmart shoppers electric scooters and handicapped parking spaces.
And people abuse those things
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Now all seven of those companies appear on a list of DEI rollbacks maintained by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as part of a "Black Consumer Advisory" initiative launched earlier this month designed to encourage support for businesses that expand their commitments to diversity.
They have every right to ask people to boycott companies. Are enough people really going to do that?
On a few occasions I've found myself in a Walmart late at night. I find it hard to believe.
I'd say DEI is DEAD.
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kinda like the “Grateful Dead” still raking in millions.
Corporations want EVERYONE'S money$$.
They are bending the knee under pressure but I don't think it will hold once shareholders start losing money.
I am amazed that so many people base their shopping habits soley on their political stances on issues.
I tend to shop where I can get the highest quality product at the most reasonable price -