Rick Wilking/Reuters
- John Deere has backed down from a number of DEI initiatives, seemingly in response to online criticism.
- The company said it won't partake in external "cultural awareness" parades and reaffirmed its lack of a pronoun policy.
- In a viral video, conservative activist Robby Starbuck said John Deere had "gone woke."
Tractor maker John Deere has backed down from its DEI initiatives after facing substantial criticism from conservatives online.
John Deere "will no longer participate in or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events," it said in a post on X on Tuesday.
It said that it would audit its company-mandated training materials to "ensure the absence of socially-motivated messages" and that its business resource groups would "exclusively" focus on professional development, networking, mentoring, and supporting talent recruitment.
The farm-machinery company added that diversity quotas and pronoun identification "have never been and are not company policy."
Though it did not specify why it had made the changes, John Deere's post came soon after criticism from conservative activist Robby Starbuck and his followers.
Starbuck said that the company had "gone woke" in a video posted on X on July 9. At the time of writing, the video had more than 50,000 likes and over 5 million views.
Starbuck said in the video that John Deere had introduced a pronoun policy, showing a screenshot he said was from the company's website in which it "encouraged" staff to use their pronouns in their email signatures.
He also said that John Deere had sponsored the Capital City Pride Little Rainbow Run, a children's fun run in Iowa that raised funds for Capital City Pride's events.
After John Deere's post on X, Starbuck celebrated, calling the decision a "massive win" and saying his followers are "helping me force corporate America back to sanity."
Business Insider has not been able to independently verify whether John Deere had a pronoun policy and whether it sponsored the Pride event.
In a number of videos on John Deere's Facebook page with the caption "Rainbow Ally," the company identified workers' pronouns on screen. It also posted in April 2022 about the importance of "using the right pronouns."
The company did not respond to a request for comment from BI John about whether Starbuck's video prompted its change in policy and what measures it still has in place to support LGBTQ+ employees. John Deere said in its post on X that it would continue to "track and advance" the company's diversity.
John Deere's announcement came just six weeks after the Department of Labor said that the company had agreed to pay $1.1 million in back wages and interest to Black and Hispanic job applicants over what the DOL called "systemic hiring discrimination."
Starbuck had launched a similar campaign against the Tractor Supply Company in June. In late June, the company announced that it would stop submitting data to the Human Rights Campaign, stop sponsoring "nonbusiness" activities like Pride festivals and voting campaigns, eliminate DEI roles, and withdraw its carbon emission goals.
Conservative activists have previously targeted other companies over their Pride initiatives, like Target's Pride collection last year. Some conservatives also led a boycott of Bud Light after it launched a social media promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.