Ford execs DO turn around, detour from the “woke” past.

Following the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, corporations began adopting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to help promote workplace opportunities for people of diverse backgrounds in the corporate world.

However, the conservative reaction to the online numbers sparked a wave of action that saw companies like Tractor Supply Co. (TSCO) Microsoft (MSFT) Lowe’s (LOW) John Deere (OF) and Harley Davidson (PIG) scale back their DEI initiatives for fear of a greater boycott of the companies’ respective products and services.

Related: Harley-Davidson makes tough decision amid ‘awakened’ outrage.

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

In a document distributed internally for the first time to employees of the Mustang and Bronco automaker, its CEO Jim Farley wrote that the automaker is “aware” that its employees and customers “have a wide range of beliefs” and that “externally and legally the environment related to political and social issues continues to evolve”.

Farley also wrote that the automaker doesn’t use hiring quotas and won’t use them for minority dealers or suppliers.

In addition, he announced that Ford would discontinue its participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index and other similar “best places to work” lists.

Ford Motor Company’s world headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan

Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images

Ford’s decision was condemned by HRC leadership. In previous years, the LGBTQIA+ advocacy group has recognized the automaker with a perfect score on the index, which evaluates companies based on various factors, including LGBTQIA+ community outreach and practices such as offering spousal health benefits to anyone regardless of gender.

“Ford Motor Company’s short-sighted decisions will have long-term consequences,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.

“The hasty abandonment of efforts that ensure fair, safe and inclusive work environments is bad for business and leaves Ford 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 other corporate executives.

Big news: I was in the middle of investigating wakeup policies @Vad but this morning ford confirmed to me that they are making changes.

Here are the changes:

• Termination of participation in @HRCThe Corporate Equality Index social credit system has woken up.

• It looks like it will… pic.twitter.com/LAIxUgNicV

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 28, 2024

“We’re keeping an eagle eye on these companies,” Starbuck warned executives in a video attached to X’s post. lineup and does something crazy, we’ll report on it and it’ll be way worse than the first time.

“Don’t wait for me to come for you. I don’t want to come and expose every company, but if I have to, I will. This is in your control. Do what’s right for your company and eliminate the wake. .”

“Our movement is becoming a behemoth, you cannot stop us. We’re going to inject sanity back into corporate America, the question for you as a CEO 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’s a far cry from 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 caught the attention of conservative figures like The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro on social media.

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

In a statement to Reuters, a Ford representative said the video that offended these activists wasn’t just a year old; was created by Ford’s European division “to make something positive out of a negative comment online that a color of our new Ranger Raptor pickup was ‘too gay.’

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However, this controversy pales in comparison to the widespread boycott of the automaker and its subsidiaries, led by the American Family Association (AFA) and 30 other conservative, Christian and “values” groups. family” from March 2006.

During that time, the homophobic agenda of the groups against the Blue Oval was motivated by a list of points that included the financial support of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), its position as the main sponsor of the Pride festival in Detroit, Motor City. Also proud to be a regular advertiser in LGBTQIA+ magazines like Advocate.

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

“While it’s true that others do (support gay causes), they don’t do it to the extent that Ford Motor Company does. We looked at all the automakers and other companies, and it was pretty clear to us that Ford was the biggest offender of family values.”

“We were amazed at the sheer number of cash donations, car donations and (Ford) employee resource groups dedicated to promoting the gay agenda.”

Related: Congress wants to change the way SUVs look

By June 2006, the effects of the boycott began to choke the company. In particular, a group of 75 Ford dealers in Texas wrote a letter imploring then-Ford CEO Bill Ford to give in to the group’s demands, arguing that the boycott was hurting their business.

They didn’t back down, even though the boycott was reflected in Ford’s numbers. In March 2006, Ford’s sales fell by 5% and rose to 7% in April of the same year. At the same time, Ford’s stock fell more than 14%, its lowest in 20 years at that point. 2006 would be a sad 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 focus on making better automobiles rather than getting into the middle of the culture war,” AFA President Don Wildmon said in a statement at the time. “The latest round of bad economic news seems to bear this out.”

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

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