Fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A received backlash on social media as conservatives learned that the firm’s corporate office advances a number of diversity initiatives, a revelation which came as brands such as Bud Light and Target face criticism for embracing woke ideology.
Social media users noted that Chick-fil-A, which has a longstanding reputation as a firm run on the basis of conservative and Christian principles, hired Erick Reynolds as vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion two years ago. Chick-fil-A prominently features a number of diversity programs meant only for females and members of racial minorities on a DEI segment of its website, which surfaced in the days after Target and Bud Light witnessed sales and market capitalization hits.
Three years ago, Chick-fil-A Chairman Dan Cathy called for Americans to shine the shoes of their friends and neighbors in response to purported racism. Video of Cathy, who is white, shining the shoes of black Christian rapper Lecrae and exhorting listeners to have “a sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment” also went viral on social media in recent days.
Beyond collaborations with “various national diverse professional development organizations” such as the Women’s Foodservice Forum, the National Black MBA Association, and Association of Latino Professionals of America, the restaurant chain offers community groups such as Women in Business, the Black Employee Resource Group, and the Chick-fil-A Green Team. The company also seeks to develop “mentorship, development, and partnership opportunities for minority-owned businesses to strategically engage” with their supply chain.
Chick-fil-A additionally includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and “gender expression” in its employment nondiscrimination statement alongside race, sex, religion, and veteran status.
The Daily Wire had contacted Chick-fil-A about their ESG and DEI efforts earlier this year and sent another request for comment on Tuesday, specifically asking whether the emphases on employee and supplier diversity could prompt the company to overlook talented candidates.
The firm created an evaluation of “top ESG issues that internal and external stakeholders expect to grow in importance in the next five years” for a recent sustainability report, which included “climate and energy stewardship” and diversity, equity, and inclusion. “While Chick-fil-A has long been committed to supporting our communities and being a responsible steward of all that is entrusted to us, companies like ours are increasingly expected to help address complex social and environmental challenges, especially those that most affect our industry,” the company said in the document.
Another sustainability report published last week likewise cited the firm’s commitment to diversity, noting that Chick-fil-A established a steering committee to provide insights for DEI initiatives and seeks to make diversity “an integral part of our culture of care.”
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Skeptics of the ESG and DEI movements contend that the philosophies center on political and social causes, such as decreasing carbon emissions or diversifying company leadership, in a manner that distracts from profitability and uses corporate power to advance leftist agendas.
One recent analysis from The Daily Wire found that Target, which is experiencing a boycott after the retail behemoth marketed a female swimsuit as “tuck-friendly” and hired an artist who creates Satanic items to make various designs for the company, had published a similar sustainability report which called for supplier diversity among firms creating “Pride Month” apparel, as well as diversity initiatives for women and racial minorities. Another report from The Daily Wire likewise revealed that Anheuser-Busch, the company which owns Bud Light and suffered after the brand partnered with social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, has similar ESG commitments centered on various diversity and climate efforts.
Anheuser-Busch and Target, each of which are publicly traded, have seen their share prices plummet on the stock market as investors react to the boycott movements.
Chick-fil-A, which is privately owned, garnered criticism four years ago after its charitable foundation halted donations to a number of Christian organizations characterized as “anti-LGBTQ groups,” such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army.