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Ford Motor Company just became the latest in a growing list of companies that are vocally rolling back their DE&I initiatives in response to what one expert described as a “misinformation” campaign.
On August 28, Ford told employees it would no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) workplace equality index, USA Today reported. The company also said it would change its employee resource groups (ERGs) by opening them to all employees. Ford declined to respond to HR Brew’s request for comment about the changes.
“By failing to support women leaders, employees of color, and LGBTQ+ employees, Ford Motor Company is abandoning its financial duty to recruit and keep top talent from across the full talent pool,” Kelley Robinson, HRC president, said in a statement. “In making their purchasing decisions, consumers should take note that Ford Motor Company has abandoned its commitment to our communities.”
Robinson also accused Ford of bowing to Robby Starbuck—the far right influencer whose 590k X (formerly Twitter) followers and 337k Instagram followers, and support from the likes of Elon Musk, have given him a platform to attack corporate DE&I initiatives—calling him a “MAGA bully” and “extreme.”
Ford’s decision came shortly after similar announcements from Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Forman, Harley-Davidson, and Lowe’s. All the companies said they’ll no longer participate in HRC’s index, and announced a shift in ERG strategy, HR Brew previously reported. John Deere and Tractor Supply walked back their DE&I commitments earlier in the summer.
Lily Zheng, a DE&I strategist and author, told HR Brew that the efforts to dismantle DE&I are all part of a “misinformation” campaign, similar to the 2020–21 campaign targeting supposed critical race theory in schools, which led to bans in nearly 20 states. DE&I opponents often misrepresent its purpose, they said.
“You take this initiative and you say it’s against American values. It’s against meritocracy—all misinformation—and then repeat it as loudly as possible until major news organizations pick it up, and then you have a story,” Zheng said, pointing to the media’s role in what’s happening to DE&I. “And so what I think is happening right now is exactly the same thing, where people are using DE&I as a slur in the hopes that people will legitimize it and then run away from DE&I work.”