Target Rolls Back Its DEI Initiatives

Target has announced that it has rolled back its DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives, becoming the latest company to shutter them following Donald Trump’s executive order “ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity.”

CNBC reports that the Minneapolis-based retailer announced in a memo to its staff that it would terminate its three-year DEI goals, cease reporting to outside organizations that focus on diversity, such as the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, and terminate a program that aimed to carry more goods from Black or minority-owned companies.

“Many years of data, insights, listening and learning have been shaping this next chapter in our strategy,” said Kiera Fernandez, chief community impact and equity officer for Target, in the memo. “And as a retailer that serves millions of consumers every day, we understand the importance of staying in step with the evolving external landscape, now and in the future — all in service of driving Target’s growth and winning together.”

With the decision, the retailer joins many businesses that have abandoned DEI-related commitments and objectives in recent months, such as Walmart, McDonald’s, Facebook’s parent company Meta, and Tractor Supply. Conservative activists pressured some of those businesses, and some invoked the Supreme Court’s decision to forbid affirmative action in higher education, which may not have forced them to act.

The business’s move also comes in response to executive orders by Donald Trump shortly after his inauguration, which terminated government DEI programs and placed federal officials on leave.

The change seems to be a shift away from the retailer’s previous statements and policies regarding DEI. According to CNN, in defense of Target’s diversity initiatives, CEO Brian Cornell said in 2023, “I know that focus on diversity and inclusion and equity has fueled much of our growth over the last nine years. I’m really proud of the work we’ve done in the DE&I space.”

Target May Have Rolled Back DEI — But Costco Hasn’t

Despite Target becoming the latest company to eliminate its DEI initiatives, one company adamantly refuses to eliminate its DEI policies: Costco.

Costco shareholders were asked to vote on whether the company should “conduct an evaluation and publish a report, omitting proprietary and privileged information, on the risks of the Company maintaining its current DEI (including ‘People & Communities’) roles, policies, and goals” after the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) filed a formal proposal.

At Costco’s annual shareholders meeting on Jan. 23, that question was put to the company’s shareholders and was soundly defeated. According to Axios, preliminary vote totals indicate that roughly 98% of votes were cast against the NCPPR’s proposal.

Trillium Asset Management’s chief advocacy officer, Jonas Kron, told the outlet: “The fact that 98% of investors voted against the proposal shows that almost all investors are not buying what the anti-ESG and anti-DEI organizations are selling.”