Is the Woke Era in Corporate America Coming to an End?

If the last few years felt like a woke corporate takeover, this summer may mark the beginning of a return to normalcy. Recently, two giants of American agriculture made some major changes in how they plan to do business. Last month, John Deere committed to alter its approach to social and cultural awareness to “more closely align business strategy to meet the needs of customers.” That announcement followed a June decision by Tractor Supply to remove their entire DEI department.  

Among other things, John Deere promised to refocus on their business and brand, no longer fund “pride parades,” and remove socially motivated messaging from corporate training materials. The company also affirmed that diversity quotas and pronoun identification “are not company policy.” Tractor Supply also pledged to cease funding pride parades and to remove social ideology from training and business materials.  

Considering how recently and heavily companies adopted an LGBTQ agenda, these reversals are notable. We all remember Pride Month 2023, with Target targeting children and Bud Light’s odd choice of brand spokesman. 

Other major companies have also expressed regret over their aggressive social policies. In an email highlighted by Business Insider, a Microsoft “team leader” wrote, “True systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020.” 

Those words summarize a recently forgotten reality of the business world, namely that it is dependent on customers. Admitting that something is no longer “business critical or smart” means acknowledging that customers have rejected the bold, in-your-face social agendas that permeate so many corporations. This is the major reason that Pride Month this year seemed quieter than last year. The parades were still there, just as loud and perhaps more obscene, but the scale of corporate promotion was clearly scaled back. 

How did companies find themselves heralds of this social engineering in the first place? A key factor was The Human Rights Campaign, an American LGBTQ advocacy group, which launched its Corporate Equality Index, or CEI in 2002. The CEI surveys businesses and scores them on their commitment to sex and gender identity politics.  

To receive high marks, companies must incorporate LGBTQ hiring quotas, sensitivity training, and “trans-friendly” benefits. Companies were pressured to boost their CEI score under threat of bad publicity and promises of increased profit to investors. Given the stranglehold this has on so many companies, Tractor Supply’s pledge to cease reporting to the HRC is a significant development.  

Also, August 19 marks the five-year anniversary of another key chapter in this story, when The Business Roundtable set forth an agenda to redefine the purpose of a corporation to promote stakeholders over shareholders. Stakeholders included large advocacy groups like the Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, and BLM. The letter promised new education and training for employees in “a rapidly changing world” by fostering “diversity and inclusion, dignity, and respect.” This campaign drove the adoption of DEI programs nationwide.  

John Deere, Tractor Supply and other companies including Microsoft, Google, and Meta retracting or dissolving altogether their DEI departments is significant. 

In a free market economy, the marketplace holds heavy sway. As the Business Roundtable accurately wrote in its statement, “Businesses play a vital role in the economy by creating jobs, fostering innovation, and providing essential goods and services.”  When companies lose focus on business and succumb to ideology, consumer feedback is an essential corrective. The substantial profit lost last summer when customers refused to shop at Target or buy Bud Light made a difference, and not just for those companies. Other companies started to listen, too.   

It also underscores that we can make a difference, however small. The triumph of this harmful ideology is only inevitable if we say nothing. Last year, my church requested that the pride flags be removed from the street outside of our front door. The city removed one. This year, they didn’t even go up.  

Here’s another idea: Recommend that books, especially children’s books, be added and displayed at the local library. I suggest the books He is He, and She is She by Ryan and Bethany Bomberger.  

Customers have influence. And a protest need not be loud. In fact, sometimes, a respectful request goes further than you may think. 

 This Breakpoint was co-authored by Michaela Estruth. If you’re a fan of Breakpoint, leave a review on your favorite podcast app. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org.  

Photo Courtesy:©Getty Images/photo_chaz

Published Date: August 9, 2024

John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.