(Bloomberg) -- Molson Coors Beverage Co. is cutting back some of its corporate diversity efforts, joining a corporate retreat hastened by an anti-DEI social media campaign.
Molson Coors sent a memo to employees Tuesday saying it will stop linking executive compensation to employee representation, scrap supplier diversity goals, and no longer engage with the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate rankings. A spokesman for the firm shared the memo with Bloomberg News.
Conservative activist Robby Starbuck had posted a copy of the memo earlier Tuesday on his X social media account and said that he had been preparing to begin an attack on the brewer for its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
The maker of Coors is joining half a dozen companies including Ford Motor Co., Lowe’s Cos., and Harley-Davidson Inc. in pulling back from DEI policies.
The Molson Coors spokesman had no additional comment beyond providing the memo.
This isn’t the first time that social media-driven backlash has affected the beer market. Anheuser-Bush InBev NV and its Bud Light brand was punished for a promotion featuring a transgender influencer last year, boosting sales for rival Molson Coors’ light beer.
Starbuck, a music-video producer turned influencer, has claimed credit for changes to DEI programs at a string of US companies in recent months. While other conservative activists like Edward Blum and Stephen Miller, the former senior adviser for President Donald Trump, have filed lawsuits and regulatory complaints against businesses for their DEI initiatives, Starbuck has relied on social media platform X to generate popular outrage.
US companies have been scaling back DEI programs that some conservatives say discriminates against White men. The backlash follows a wave of pro-DEI policies being introduced across US businesses in response to employee and customer anger over the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a White policeman.
Conservative activists are telling companies to drop activism and focus on making products. DEI supporters warn that employees may be harmed by the pullback.
Tractor Supply Co., Deere & Co. and Harley-Davidson revised their DEI initiatives after Starbuck posted a stream of attacks on X complaining about what he said were “woke” policies out of step with the companies’ customers. Starbuck took credit for DEI changes at home improvement retailer Lowe’s, while Jack Daniel’s whiskey maker Brown-Forman Corp. also told staff last month it was ending DEI programs.
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