On Tuesday, my colleague Mike Miller penned a piece detailing Disney's decision to roll back its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, which isn't just a sign of a cultural shift, but that corporations have learned from their mistakes and will put this ridiculous, business-killing nonsense behind them.
Corporations definitely learned their lesson... they were too loud about it.
As Miller wrote, Disney made the announcement that it was dropping its "Reimagine Tomorrow" campaign, which was the birthplace of the "not-so-secret gay agenda" that Disney execs bragged about. A lot of Disney's issues can be traced back to this DEI program, including its lackluster and message-infused deliveries that cost the company its reputation.
(READ: Did the Mouse Just Blink? Disney Reportedly Drops Two DEI Programs As Investor Backlash Grows)
But the infection ran too deep. Yes, the "Reimagine Campaign" might be gone, but its elements are just putting on a different mask or being reallocated elsewhere.
As Reuters notes, the language is changing, not the goal:
The memo notes Disney has added a new factor called "talent strategy" to evaluate executive compensation, weighing how well leaders advance Disney's values of cultivating an environment in which all employees can thrive.
It represents an "evolution" of the former diversity and inclusion factor, adding elements such as storytelling, creativity and synergy, according to the memo. "While this will continue to evolve, what won't change is our commitment to fostering a company where everyone belongs."
Notice the words are in different places, but the language is still the same. "Talent strategy" looks to be a way to measure how well an executive is doing with diversity and inclusion efforts.
Sad, but not unexpected. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said this is something that would have to happen as Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) would have to be "rebranded" as ESG has gotten such a bad connotation attached to it. DEI is an ESG initiative, so what we're effectively seeing is Fink's words manifesting.
As pointed out by Reuters, Fink hasn't backed down:
But he said dropping references to ESG would not change BlackRock's stance. The firm would continue to talk to companies it has stakes in about decarbonization, corporate governance and social issues to be addressed, he added.
And if Fink hasn't then companies with BlackRock's hands on them aren't either.
You can see Target is doing the same thing. It, too, said they'd be waving goodbye to DEI in late January, and yet, none of the DEI staff were let go. They were just given different titles, as The Federalist reported:
On Jan. 24, Target issued a press release that supposedly indicates a departure from DEI. Kiera Fernandez, formerly known as Target’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, now goes by a new title: Chief Community Impact and Equity Officer. What a clever rebrand. Considering the goal was to pretend that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are no longer a priority at Target, I would have thought that her new title should avoid the words Diversity, Equity, or Inclusion.
Target isn't actually abandoning DEI, it's just renaming it and learning to be less conspicuous about its aims and goals.
While it does seem like some corporations are definitely learning from their mistakes and stepping away from DEI, it's pretty clear that other corporations are just flat-out lying to you about their turn from it. They're still practicing racism, sexism, and bigotry, just with the leftist mask of "compassion," and "equality." The infestation knows you're aware of it, so it's just going to give the host body fewer symptoms, so you'll ignore it.
It's currently unclear which corporations are doing this kind of thing at the moment, but we can be certain that Disney and Target are among those that have every intention of pushing woke culture into society. Rest assured, you're going to see random attempts to push left-leaning values in their stores, or in their stories, it's just going to be a bit more subversive now.
Vote (with your wallet) accordingly.