McDonald’s announced Monday it is abandoning some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, joining a growing list of major companies to cast the policies aside amid intense public scrutiny.
The fast food chain’s announcement stated it is “retiring” “aspirational representation goals,” rebranding the company’s diversity team as the “Global Inclusion Team,” and nixing diversity pledges for its suppliers. The company noted that it will remain “steadfast” in upholding “inclusion” across its business.
“As we start the New Year and set our ambitions for McDonald’s, we want to also update you on our accomplishments embedding inclusion throughout our system and highlight a few important changes to our approach,” the announcement reads. “We are also excited to introduce a new concept: the power of OUR ‘Golden Rule’ — treating everyone with dignity, fairness and respect, always. For the last several months, a small team has been working on refining our language to better capture McDonald’s commitment to inclusion.”
McDonald’s is pausing its DEI pledge “in favor of a more integrated discussion with suppliers about inclusion as it relates to business performance” and will “focus on continuing to embed inclusion practices that grow our business,” the announcement said.
The fast food giant also boasted it had already met several of its diversity goals, such as achieving “pay equity” and “strong leadership diversity,” according to the announcement.
McDonald’s said that legal issues revolving around DEI at universities, especially the Supreme Court case that ruled the use of race as a factor for admission unconstitutional, contributed to its decision.
Walmart made headlines in November when the superstore announced it was walking back several of its DEI policies and would no longer supply transgender items for minors, while Costco doubled down on its approach. Several universities, such as the University of Michigan, have made efforts to dismantle their DEI programs, with many doing so in response to state laws that ban the discriminatory practices.
Calls for companies to take a step back from DEI came after several studies offered a grim outlook on the programs, suggesting that the efforts may make people more likely to agree with statements from Adolf Hitler on race and fail to improve outcomes for nonwhite people or increase diversity and race relations.
McDonald’s did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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