Coors slammed for ‘ghosting the community’ after becoming latest brand to drop DEI initiatives

Coors beer has become the latest brand to drop its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Molson Coors Brewing Company reportedly announced in an internal memo that it had been restructuring its corporate training programmes since March.

Coors, which had a chequered history with the queer community before merging with Canadian brewers Molson in 2005, added that it would be doing away with its DEI initiatives and diversity quotas because of the “complicated” rise of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

Instead, it would focus on rebranding employee resource groups, which support marginalised members of its workforce, as “business resource groups” in response to “factors outside [the company’s] control,” executives said.

“We are ensuring our incentives are tied to business performance and do not include aspirational representation goals, beginning next year.”

US-based human rights groups almost universally panned the decision, including GLAAD, which shamed Molson-Coors for deciding to “walk away” from supporting marginalised groups “when it gets noisy and hard.”

GLAAD president and chief executive Sarah Kate Ellis said: “Coors is throwing away decades of effort to regain the trust of LGBTQ+ and ally employees and consumers. Corporate responsibility demands a laser focus on the reality that our world is already more diverse and inclusive.

“Thriving businesses always invite more people to belong and be respected, in every move they make.”

Journalist Erin Reed also chimed in, sharing an infographic created by Coors last year to trumpet its commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and writing: “Coors ends DEI and LGBT initiatives. Remember a year ago when they posted this? So often, when companies who claim to be allies get an ounce of what LGBTQ+ people get every day, they ghost the community. And that’s worse than never even supporting at all.”

Coors-Molson’s move follows similar steps by a string of American businesses that have chosen to roll back their commitment to DEI initiatives, including home-improvement retail chain Lowe’s, Ford Motors and whiskey-makers Brown-Forman Corporation, who own Jack Daniel’s.

The anti-DEI backlash has been spearheaded by a right-wing activist named Robby Starbuck.

Starbuck, who directed the controversial, gender-critical, anti-LGBTQ+ documentary The War on Children, which has since been removed by Amazon, took to X in June to call out Tractor Supply for their DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiatives, including: “having Pride month decorations in their office.”

The impact was significant, with scores of people threatening to boycott Tractor Supply. Clearly buoyed by this “success”, Starbuck has since gone on to target several other companies in a similar fashion.

8 in 10 LGBTQ+ customers would boycott companies rolling back DEI initiatives

Data collected by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which has been vocal in its opposition to companies dropping their DEI commitments, suggests that an overwhelming majority of LGBTQ+ adults would react negatively to such rollbacks.

According to the HRC’s latest LGBTQ+ Climate Survey, more than 80 per cent of queer adults would boycott a company that reversed DEI initiatives, while 75 per cent said they would have a less than favourable opinion of the brand.

In addition, 52.5 per cent of those surveyed said they would urge others to boycott the company.

HRC’s senior vice-president for programmes, research and training, Orlando Gonzales, said that the continued attacks on DEI campaigns are “short-sighted” and make workplaces feel “less safe and less inclusive”.

The survey backed up his claim: 72.4 per cent of the participants said they would feel less included or accepted at work, and more than one-third believed their productivity would suffer as a result.

Several companies that have cut DEI initiatives have also dropped their commitments to the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which measures a firm’s inclusivity.

More than 93 per cent of those surveyed said a perfect score on the HRC’s CEI would indicate a commitment to LGBTQ+ rights, and a similar number would see a company that donates to LGBTQ causes in a good light.

Furthermore, Americans are twice as likely to buy and use brands that support LGBTQ+ rights, GLAAD’s research suggested.

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