Ford execs make DEI U-turn, detour from 'woke' past

Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis Police officer in 2020, corporations began to adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to help advance workplace opportunities for people of diverse backgrounds in the corporate world.

However, backlash from conservative figures online has sparked a wave of action that has seen companies such as Tractor Supply Co. ( TSCO ) , Microsoft ( MSFT ) , Lowe's ( LOW ) , John Deere ( DE ) and Harley Davidson ( HOG ) scale back their DEI initiatives in fear of a larger boycott of their respective companies products and services.

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Dearborn-based Ford Motor Company ( F ) , is the latest company to announce that it has walked back such policies.

In a document first shared internally to employees of the automaker known for the Mustang and Bronco, its CEO Jim Farley penned that the automaker is "mindful" that its employees and customers "hold a wide range of beliefs" and that "the external and legal environment related to political and social issues continues to evolve."

Farley also wrote that the automaker does not utilize hiring quotas and that it will not use them for minority dealerships or suppliers.

Additionally, he announced that Ford will discontinue its participation in the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Corporate Equality Index and other similar "best places to work" lists.

Ford's decision has been condemned by HRC leadership. In previous years, the LGBTQIA+ advocacy group recognized the automaker with a perfect score on the index, which grades companies on various factors, including its LGBTQIA+ community outreach and practices like offering spousal medical benefits to any person regardless of sex.

“Ford Motor Company’s shortsighted decisions will have long-term consequences,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.

“Hastily abandoning efforts that ensure fair, safe, and inclusive work environments is bad for business and leaves Ford’s employees and millions of LGBTQ+-allied consumers behind.”

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), conservative influencer Robby Starbuck, the architect behind the latest wave of anti-DEI backlash, took credit for Ford's decision and threatened the automaker and executives in other corporations.

"We are eagle-eyed about these companies," Starbuck warned executives in a video attached to the X post. "We have sources inside every company we expose and we will continue to watch them and if any of these companies step out of line and do something crazy, we will report on it and it will be far worse than the first time.

"Do not wait for me to come for you. I do not want to come and expose every company, but if I have to, I will. This is within your control. Do the right thing for your company, and cut out the wokeness."

"Our movement is growing into a behemoth, you cannot stop us. We will inject sanity back into corporate America, the question for you as an executive is whether you want to do it the easy way or the hard way."

Ford's previous rodeos

Ford's latest decision may reflect taking "the easy way out," but it is a far cry from the time when they took things "the hard way."

Ford is no stranger to conservative backlash. In 2023, the automaker received backlash after a video from Ford Europe's June 2022 Pride Month campaign garnered attention by conservative figures like The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro on social media.

The ad, which depicted a Ranger Raptor emblazoned with Pride rainbow graphics, came in the wake of the infamous Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light boycott.

In a statement to Reuters , a Ford representative said that the video that offended these activists was not only a year old; it was created by Ford's European division "to make something positive out of a negative online comment that a color of our new Ranger Raptor pickup was ‘very gay.’"

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However, that blip of controversy is a tiny speed bump in comparison to the full-scale boycott of the automaker and its subsidiaries conducted by the American Family Association (AFA) and more than 30 other conservative, Christian and "family values" advocacy groups in March 2006.

During that time, the groups' homophobic agenda against the Blue Oval was motivated by a list of items that included its financial support of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), its position as the lead sponsor of Detroit's Pride festival, Motor City Pride and for being a regular advertiser in LGBTQIA+ magazines such as Advocate.

“We have researched the automakers, and Ford is head and shoulders above the others in their financial support and contributions,” Randy Sharp, then AFA’s director of special projects, told the Baptist Press.

“While it is true that others do [support gay causes], they don’t do it to the extent that the Ford Motor Company does. We looked at all the automakers and other companies, and it was quite clear to us that Ford was the top offender of family values.”

“[W]e were astounded by the absolute number of cash donations, car donations and employee resource groups [Ford] dedicated to the promotion of the homosexual agenda.”

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By June 2006, the effects of the boycott were starting to choke the company. Notably, a group of 75 Ford dealers in Texas penned a letter begging then-Ford CEO Bill Ford to give in to the group's demands, pleading that the boycott was hurting their businesses.

They didn't fold, even as the boycott was reflected in Ford's numbers. In March 2006, Ford sales dropped 5% and grew to 7% in April of the same year. At the same time, Ford stock dropped more than 14%, the lowest in 20 years at that point. 2006 would be a dismal year for the Blue Oval, as it would lose $12.7 billion due, in part, to the boycott.

“We’ve said all along that Ford should be concentrating on making better automobiles rather than getting in the middle of the culture war,” AFA Chairman Don Wildmon said in a statement at the time. “The latest round of bad economic news seems to bear this out.”

The Ford Motor Company trades under the symbol F on the New York Stock Exchange. Ford Stock is up 0.82% since the opening bell, trading at $11.13 per share at the time of writing.

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