Milwaukee, WI, USA – August 10, 2024: Miller Brewing Co., owned by Molson Coors, has been brewing in their Milwaukee factory since 1860 after being founded by Frederick J. Miller. Photo: Shutterstock
Molson Coors, the beverage company behind numerous beer and adult drink brands, is ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) employee trainings and also ending its participation with the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index (CEI) which ranks companies based on corporate equality measures for LGBTQ+ individuals. Before doing so, Molson Coors had a perfect score of 100 points.
The company is also eliminating supplier diversity quotas because they can be “complicated and influenced by factors outside of [the company’s] control,” CNBC Business reported, according to an internal memo sent on Wednesday and obtained by the news outlet. The company’s policy changes occurred amid a recent trend of several other large U.S. companies — like Lowes, Jack Daniels, John Deere, and Harley Davidson — ending their own DEI and LGBTQ+-inclusive commitments.
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“We are ensuring our executive incentives are tied to business performance and do not include aspirational representation goals beginning next year,” company executives wrote in the memo.
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Coors Light has sponsored Pride events, supported its LGBTQ+ employees, and marketed to LGBTQ+ consumers. In past years, Molson Coors has raised money for LGBTQ+-focused organizations through its “Tap Into Change” program.
Meanwhile, the HRC has hit back at the companies ending their DEI policies. An HRC statement accused the companies of “abandoning their values and backtracking from commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).”
The HRC pointed to survey data saying that 80% of LGBTQ+ individuals would boycott a company that slashed their DEI initiatives.
The “new data confirms that companies like Molson Coors, Ford, and others that abandon their values and backtrack from commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion risk losing both top employee talent and consumer dollars,” Orlando Gonzales, Senior Vice President of Programs, Research, and Training at the HRC, wrote in an emailed statement.
A spokesperson from Molson Coors said in an email to LGBTQ Nation, “In March, our [human resources] team began rolling out the next steps of our culture journey, centered on an evolution from our work focused on DEI to a broader view in which all our employees know they are welcome. The driving force behind this shift was the understanding that when all our people know they are welcome, they are more engaged, motivated and committed to our company’s collective success. Since then, we have reviewed all our policies and practices to ensure our work is aligned with this renewed focus.”
The spokesperson said that a team is auditing the charitable giving program to ensure funds are focused on “supporting our hometown communities and our core business goals, such as alcohol responsibility, disaster relief efforts, and promoting access to higher education and job training for positions in our industry.”
Despite cutting DEI programs, the statement from Molson Coors added, “We will continue to welcome everyone at our bar…. In the polarized world in which we are living, let’s ensure that we stay united as a team as well. Respect each other, take care of each other and work together to ensure the best beers in the world are backed by the best culture in the world.”
Predictably, conservative “activist” and COVID scammer Robby Starbuck has once again declared victory for the policy change.
“4 years ago Coors was giving $1,000,000 to the HRC. Today Coors wants no association with them. Our movement is creating change on a massive scale. Sanity is making a comeback,” he wrote on X.
In late June, the Tractor Supply Co. was also the subject of a Starbuck campaign. The company announced that it would end DEI programs, stop sponsoring Pride events, and withdraw from carbon emission goals.
Just a couple of weeks later, John Deere said it would no longer participate in “social or cultural awareness parades” and remove all “socially motivated messages” from its training materials and workplace policies after Starbuck took aim at the company.
Jack Daniels, Harley Davidson, and Lowe’s followed suit last week and the week before. With Coors Light altering its policies, the number of companies caving to far-right fervor is up to six.
