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Another Massive Company Backtracks, Drops DEI

Another Massive Company Backtracks, Drops DEI

byAnastasia Boushee
August 26, 2024

Yet another company with a conservative customer base has been forced to backtrack on their radical leftist policies following a successful campaign from conservative customers.

Motorcycle giant Harley-Davidson has joined a growing list of companies that is backtracking on so-called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) policies.

For the past few months, Harley riders posting videos on social media calling out the company.

Even celebrities joined in on the condemnation, with Trump-supporting MMA fighter Sean Strickland declaring that he would be selling his motorcycle despite loving Harleys for most of his life.

Columbia War Machine even went so far as to post a video shooting a Harley with several different guns, ending in a massive explosion.

After all of this backlash, Harley-Davidson published an open letter to the public confirming that it would no longer be implementing DEI policies and would be creating strict protocols for any corporate sponsorships and affiliations in the future.

“We are saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community. As a Company, we take this issue very seriously, and it is our responsibility to respond with clarity, action, and facts,” the company wrote.

Harley-Davidson went on to explain that it had disbanded its DEI office and would be ending its participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) scoring program.

“It is critical to our business that we hire and retain the best talent and that all employees feel welcome,” the company wrote. “That said, we have not operated a DEI function since April 2024, and we do not have a DEI function today. We do not have hiring quotas and we no longer have supplier diversity goals.”

The letter then revealed that Harley-Davidson was actively reviewing all of its sponsorships and organizations, noting that any future partnerships would be “centrally approved and managed.”

“As a consumer brand, we will focus exclusively on growing the sport of motorcycling and retaining our loyal riding community, in addition to the support we already provide to first responders, active military members and veterans,” the letter continued.

The campaign against Harley-Davidson’s woke practices began back in July with posts on X from activist Robby Starbuck, who highlighted the motorcycle company’s LGBT initiatives, DEI, and Critical Race Theory activism.

On Tuesday, Starbuck celebrated the victory in a post on X.

“Another win for our movement. I couldn’t do this without all of you. Harley-Davidson corporate can be sad all they want but our movement gets results,” he wrote.

This is the second successful campaign against woke companies from Starbuck, as he previously exposed Tractor Supply, an outdoor store that mainly serves rural conservative customers. Following that boycott, Tractor Supply completely reversed course and apologized to customers. It appears that the apology worked, as the boycott has ended.

This stands in stark contrast to the Bud Light debacle, as the company refused to apologize to customers and instead tried to pander to them with weak actions, such as partnering with Harley-Davidson. Without an apology and a vow to end the woke activism, Bud Light has lost a massive segment of its customer base and has lost its spot as the top beer brand. At this point, even an apology would likely not help the company like it did for Tractor Supply and Harley-Davidson, as many feel it would be too little, too late.

Author
Anastasia Boushee
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