Stanley Black & Decker accused of removing DEI content from website amid right-wing boycott

Toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker has been accused ‘scrubbing’ DEI content from its website amid a right-wing boycott over its policies.

The tool firm, which owns brands such as Stanley, Black and Decker, DeWalt and Craftsman, last week became the latest US business to face right-wing criticism and calls for a boycott for having diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies in place.

In recent months, firms across the United States have been hit with backlash from conservatives over their DEI commitments, particularly around issues like LGBTQ+ and racial equality.

The anti-DEI campaign is being spearheaded by Robby Starbuck, a hard-line right-wing activist with a large social media following, who first went after rural retail chain Tractor Supply in June and has subsequently attacked Harley-Davidson, John Deere, Molson–Coors, Lowe’s, Ford and Jack Daniel’s – with many companies caving and rolling back their DEI policies in response.

Starbuck, who has also produced an anti-trans film that was banned by Amazon’s streaming service, has insisted in several posts that “we are winning, and one by one we will bring sanity back to corporate America”.

It’s not just Starbuck leading the charge against DEI, however: Right-wing campaign group Consumers’ Research – which boasts that it targets “wokeness” in businesses – called out Connecticut-based Stanley Black & Decker, saying the company “should focus on its customers, not woke politicians”.

On Monday (9 September) Will Hild, the director of Consumers’ Research, took to X/Twitter to allege that the company had “scrubbed” DEI content from its website.

🚨 Over the weekend @StanleyBlkDeckr scrubbed their website, removing large amounts of content highlighting their commitment to DEI & ESG as the backlash against them grows…

Did they really think we hadn’t already archived all that? https://t.co/te8uw5703D pic.twitter.com/gXFzGw7mym

— Will Hild (@WillHild) September 9, 2024

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Hild said: “Until they own up to their mistakes and publicly apologize for their failures, consumers should assume that Stanley Black and Decker has every intention to continue putting woke politics ahead of their customers.”

He said he believes the tool maker might continue to undertake DEI activities but “albeit more surreptitiously than before they were caught”.

Despite the backlash that Hild and Starbuck are stirring up against companies that wish to support their diverse range of employees and customers, the 2024 LGBTQ+ Climate Survey found that 80 per cent of LGBTQ+ adults in the US would boycott a company that rolled back equality programmes.

Orlando Gonzales, the senior vice-president for programmes, research and training at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, said in a release about the attacks on DEI that the LGBTQ+ community is an “economic powerhouse, and we want to work for and support companies who support us”.

“Attacks on DEI initiatives are short-sighted and make our workplaces less safe and less inclusive for hard-working Americans of all demographics and backgrounds.

“This new data confirms that companies like Molson-Coors, Ford and others that abandon their values and backtrack from commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion, risk losing both top employee talent and consumer dollars.”

The Human Rights Campaign has previously labelled Starbuck a “MAGA weirdo” and criticised companies for bowing to his whims and rolling back their policies.

“This is obviously something that is having a moment, so to speak,” Eric Bloem, HRC’s vice-president of programmes and corporate advocacy, told USA Today. “This notion that we need a return to sanity or a return to neutrality is something that doesn’t resonate with people who are legitimately focused on business outcomes.”

PinkNews approached Stanley Black & Decker for comment but has not received a response.