Lowe's has decided to roll back some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, following apparent pressure from conservative activist Robbie Starbuck.
The home improvement retailer said it would no longer participate in an investigation by the Human Rights Campaign, one of the largest and most progressive nonprofits. Email Starbucks also announced it would stop sponsoring parades and festivals and consolidate its employee resource groups for diverse employees into one.
“We do not sponsor or participate in community events outside of this scope, such as festivals, parades or fairs. However, we welcome our employees to get involved in their local communities and participate in events and activities in their individual capacities if they wish,” Lowe's reportedly said in an email.
Starbuck emailed Lowe's executives, saying he intended to “expose their conscious policies.”
“We are now forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies without even posting out of fear they will be the next company we expose,” Starbuck wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “We are winning, and one by one we are restoring sanity to Corporate America. So far you have helped us change corporate policies at Tractor Supply, John Deere, Harley Davidson, Polaris, Indian Motorcycle, and now Lowe's. We are a force to be reckoned with.”
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 27, 2024: A Lowe's store stands in Brooklyn, New York City on February 27, 2024. Lowe's on Tuesday reported quarterly profit and sales that beat Wall Street expectations. (Photo by Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
Big News: Message @Lowes Last week I emailed executives to let them know I was going to expose their “woke” policies, and this morning I received an email informing me they had preemptively made some major changes.
The changes are as follows:
• Termination of participation @HRCThe Awakened Corporate Equality Index… pic.twitter.com/qOUr2JLGV7
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 26, 2024
Lowe's spokesperson said Bloomberg said it had begun making the changes even before it heard from Starbucks. (Related: John Deere Announces Major Policy Updates That Will Delight Conservative Customers)
“Our hiring has never been, and will never be, driven by numbers or targets. Instead, we hire and promote the best talent so we can best serve our customers,” Lowe's email said in part.
Harley-Davidson scaled back its DEI efforts in August 2024 after such policies were revealed in a Twitter post by Robbie Starbuck. The company announced it would no longer sponsor LGBT events and end its partnership with the Human Rights Campaign.
Brown-Forman, the parent company of Jack Daniel's, close According to an email obtained from Starbucks, the company has removed itself from its corporate DEI page and also ended its participation in the Human Rights Campaign and Corporate Equality Index surveys.
Bud Light faced strong backlash in April 2023 after an ad featuring Dylan Mulvaney went viral, leading conservative figures to call for a boycott of the brand, which CNN reported cost AB InBev up to $395 million in U.S. sales. Reported.
Two Anheuser-Busch marketing executives involved in Mulvaney's marketing strategy left the company in June 2023. (Exclusive: Source: Top Anheuser-Busch marketing executive in charge of boycott has been fired)
