Surprise! Poll Shows Companies Maintaing DEI Intiatives Have Better Reputations

In news surprising to absolutely no one, it turns out companies that have walked back their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative have suffered measurable reputational damage with consumers.  

According to a poll conducted by Axios, companies that maintained their DEI policies saw their reputational scores actually increase. The scores are based on metrics that measure “trust, culture, ethics, citizenship, vision, growth, and products and services.” Of the 100 companies centered in the poll, there was an average reputation decline of 2.34 points. A common trait shared by the companies that received these declines is that they walked back their commitments to DEI initiatives. The majority of these withdrawals came as a result of the Trump administration’s ongoing assault against anything it sees as DEI. 

Yet notably, companies such as Costco and Microsoft, which have held their ground on their DEI commitments, saw their reputations increase at an average of 1.5 points. These results come as a recent Pew Research poll shows that the majority of Americans still believe DEI initiatives are good for the workplace.

As I said in the headline, this news really isn’t that surprising if you’ve been paying even the slightest amount of attention over the last several months. Target has really committed itself to being a corporate lolcow this year, as its steps to wind back its DEI initiatives have blown up spectacularly in its face. 

In fact, let’s speed run through how bad this has gone for Target. 

Almost as soon as the company announced it would be rolling back its DEI initiatives, consumer boycotts began in earnest. Initially, there was anecdotal evidence of their effect as foot traffic had been noticeably down in Target stores in the weeks following the boycotts. The impact was so bad that the company reached out to Rev. Al Sharpton to help figure out how they could rebuild trust with the Black community. 

Target’s 2025 woes were compounded during an earnings call in late May, where they revealed a 2.8 percent decrease in sales in the wake of the boycotts. This didn’t help the continuous decline of Target’s stock price, with shares dropping 3.5 percent after they revealed the sales dip. Target was one of the companies included in Axios’ poll, and its reputation went down by five percentage points and was listed in the bottom 25 percent when it came to ethics. 

Meanwhile, Costco’s been out here big stepping with that “I ball too hard, my girl too bad, my money too tall”-type energy. Shareholders overwhelmingly voted to keep their current DEI measures intact, and consumers seem to have noticed. 

Last week, Costco revealed that its earnings and revenue increased eight percent over the last quarter. Just speaking for myself and my family, the money that we would usually spend on a Target run has instead been redirected to Big Kirkland, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true of many Black households throughout the country. 

Target’s ongoing woes have proved to be a warning sign for a significant number of American retailers. Companies such as Walmart and Home Depot listed consumer boycotts as a potential risk in their annual regulatory filings. The numbers don’t lie; withdrawing from DEI initiatives has proven to be a bad business. 

Here’s hoping American companies finally take the hint (they won’t, though, let’s be real).

SEE ALSO:

They Scared: Target, Walmart Warn Investors About Consumer Boycotts

Affinity Graduations Canceled Amid Trump’s DEI Crackdown

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