Iconic Whiskey Brand Axes DEI Agenda After Backlash From Customers

The maker of Jack Daniel’s whiskey said that the company will be doing away with its DEI initiatives after customers raised concerns and threatened a boycott.

Alcohol conglomerate Brown-Forman Corp became the latest company to axe its diversity, equity and inclusion program. The move comes after a number of brands with right-leaning customer bases — including Tractor Supply, Harley Davidson and the John Deere Company — announced similar moves.

Jack Daniel’s found themselves under the microscope after conservative commentator and filmmaker Robby Starbuck drew attention to the Tennessee-based company’s DEI initiatives. In an X post, Starbuck revealed that the whiskey giant was the next brand he wanted to draw attention to, though the company opted to preemptively end its DEI program in order to avert a boycott.

In an email to employees, the company announced that it will be ending participation with the Human Rights Center’s Corporate Equity Index, which gives businesses grades based on their commitment to left-wing causes and acts as a form of corporate social credit score.

Jack Daniel’s will also be ensuring that promotions are based on merit rather than race or gender-based hiring quotas, an end to “quantitative workforce and supplier diversity ambitions,” as well as an end to DEI-themed employee trainings.

The company previously tied 10 percent of executives’ short-term compensation to progress on DEI goals, according to a 2023 annual report. According to a report from the New York Post, Jack Daniel’s unveiled its DEI goals in 2019.

“We’re now forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies without even posting just from fear they have of being the next company that we expose,” Starbuck wrote in an X post alongside a screenshot of the email.

“We are winning and one by one we will bring sanity back to corporate America.”

Starbuck previously organized boycotts of Tractor Supply, Harley Davidson and the John Deere Company over their respective DEI goals and policies. All three companies have done away with the programs in question due to significant pushback from customers.

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