Drinks giant Brown-Forman (Jack Daniel’s, Old Forester, Herradura) is the latest company to end its corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a rather sudden move given its recent commitments to promoting those ideals among its brands.
Per Bloomberg, the company sent a letter to employees last Wednesday noting the changes, which include the end of linking executive compensation to progress on DEI and discontinuing participation in an annual ranking of companies with an LGBTQ-friendly work environment.
An anti-DEI activist named Robby Starbuck shared the letter on X last week. Starbuck, whose social media account notes he “fights for freedom,” claims Brown-Forman will also end “quantitative workforce and supplier diversity ambitions” and (his words) “woke trainings.”
Elizabeth Conway, Director of Brown-Forman Brand and External Communications, confirmed the internal communication in an email exchange with InsideHook and offered a follow-up statement: “We launched our diversity and inclusion strategy in 2019. Since then, the world has evolved, our business has changed, and the legal and external landscape has shifted dramatically, particularly within the United States. With these new dynamics at play, Brown-Forman adjusted its work to ensure it continues to drive our business results while appropriately recognizing the current environment in which we find ourselves.”
The legal landscape has certainly changed for companies (and universities) promoting DEI efforts: Lawsuits are common — particularly from former Trump aide Stephen Miller — and Axios reported earlier this year that companies and CEOs were reportedly “fed up” with diversity efforts. However, few have gone on record saying so.
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In her new book “Love & Whiskey,” the founder of Uncle Nearest talks about becoming a spirits conglomerate and correcting historyThis makes the Brown-Forman letter so jarring — the phrase “we must adjust our work to ensure it continues to drive business results” is cynical and cold and makes follow-up statements (all extremely vague) about “foster[ing] an inclusive work environment” ring hollow.
It also doesn’t help that Brown-Forman is the home to Jack Daniel’s, a revered whiskey brand that has a complicated history that previously failed to acknowledge the contributions of a formerly enslaved man, Nathan “Nearest” Green (Green was Jack Daniel’s friend, mentor and the first distiller in the company history — when I toured the JD property in 2016, this wasn’t mentioned; when I went back in 2022, Green’s contributions were a focal point.)
There’s no word yet on whether Brown-Forman’s actions will affect the company’s co-managed diversity efforts. Over the weekend I spoke with two people outside of B-F who work with the drinks company on similarly minded initiatives — nobody was ready to comment and they were both awaiting further talks with the Brown-Forman team, but the mood was decidedly dour.
For now, plenty of outside voices have made their opinions known. Some people called for boycotts. An opinion piece in the Courier-Journal referred to the move, and recent anti-DEI moves at the University of Kentucky, as “[waving] the white flag in Kentucky’s ongoing war on Black people.” And Dave Karraker, a former VP of Communications at Campari, simply left this tweet:
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