DEI is Not Dying, It’s Becoming

Earlier this week, McDonald’s joined a growing list of companies publicly moving away from their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. “McDonald’s joins wave of U.S. companies backing away from DEI,” reads a representative headline. But outside of a few widely reported examples, the corporate commitment to DEI remains strong coming into 2025. Using different language can deflect anti-DEI attention from mainstream media and online influencers, and businesses that dig deeper into their DEI toolkit will be better positioned to withstand any criticism that may come. 

Deflecting anti-DEI attention: Language matters

Targeted activism against companies over their environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies — which track risks and opportunities related to society, the environment and corporate management, including those linked to DEI — rose following the first Donald Trump presidency in the U.S. And business leaders began to alter their communications strategies over recent years in response. Specifically, some avoided the acronym “ESG” in conversations with clients and customers, even while continuing their ESG policies as usual.

“Within the financial sector, some firms have responded to anti-ESG actions by lowering their media profile. Instead of substantially altering their ESG investing strategies, they are simply deploying alternative terms in corporate reports and client communications,” TriplePundit observed last May.

The avoidance strategy was so widespread that anti-ESG activists soon began to notice. “ESG is still alive and well, even at many of the firms that are publicly backing away from it,” the Competitive Enterprise Institute observed last year, describing avoidance of the ESG acronym as a form of underground “guerrilla tactics.”

The DEI acronym has undergone a similar transformation since a ferocious anti-DEI firestorm and boycott hit the Bud Light brand in the spring of 2023. The global consulting firm Teneo explored the trend in an article titled, “The State of Sustainability in 2024: DEI Will Survive.” Posted in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance in November, the article drew on a 2024 Teneo survey of 250 corporate disclosure forms. Despite campaigns against brands like Bud Light, the vast majority of companies surveyed by Teneo held firm on DEI in 2024, with 94 percent referencing it in their disclosures. 

The Teneo survey also revealed the emergence of an adaptive acronym strategy. Compared to a previous survey, Teneo found that more firms were continuing their DEI programs but dropping the acronym, either by jumbling the word order or by using alternative language to focus attention on the more general ideals of culture and belonging.

The risks of backtracking 

With President-elect Trump preparing to take office on January 20 for a second time, the communications-based acronym strategy will be tested by new anti-DEI legislation and judicial findings.

However, as the Bud Light boycott demonstrated, firms that back down in the face of anti-DEI activism risk a backlash from customers and clients who support corporate DEI programs and the things they enable, such as diverse ad campaigns and inclusive workplaces. Anti-DEI activists have big megaphones, but public opinion is firmly on the side of corporate action on diversity and inclusion.

A show of weakness can also lead to another cycle of anti-DEI attacks. “Backing down can also encourage conservative activists to push their demands further,” authors Victor Ray and Tsedale M. Melaku observed in the MIT Sloan Management Review. “While it might temporarily reduce the pressure on companies, giving in to anti-diversity forces could hurt them over the long term."

DEI must do better, and it can

The solutions are not simple, but Ray and Melaku suggested that shoring up existing DEI efforts — rather than diluting them — can help businesses weather anti-DEI attacks. They argued corporate DEI programs are particularly vulnerable to criticism when they're weak or “tentative,” relying mainly on single workshops and other flash-in-the-pan efforts with little or no follow-up.

The issue of quality in DEI programs is not a new one. DEI professionals have warned for years that paying lip service to diversity is not a winning strategy, and more corporations are beginning to get the message.

Joelle Emerson, founder and CEO of the inclusivity consulting firm Paradigm, points to signs that more businesses are strengthening their DEI programs, even as they drop the DEI acronym. Her perspective is informed by a comparison of data gathered from Paradigm clients in 2023 and 2024. “CEOs across the political spectrum believe diversity initiatives are important for positive business outcomes,” she wrote in the Harvard Business Review last month.

Emerson advised that businesses continue to focus on the over-arching goal of creating “a great culture for everyone,” while also drawing attention to the action steps that make achieving such a goal possible and embedding those steps throughout the business instead of shunting them in a DEI “silo.” 

“At the end of the day, good DEI practices are good talent practices. They help companies hire and advance the best people, unlock innovation, and create workplaces where everyone can do their best,” Emerson emphasized. “But when these efforts are siloed, they’re often less effective and more susceptible to macroeconomic trends and backlash.”

To be clear, the rise in anti-DEI activism has had an impact on corporate diversity programs. However, rather than closing the door on the goals of DEI, the backlash can motivate more businesses to adopt a more holistic, productive approach to employee hiring and retention in an increasingly diverse society.