• by Tanya Gazdik , January 6, 2025

McDonald’s is the latest corporation to alter its diversity, equity and inclusion policies. 

“Citing the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision banning affirmative action in college admissions and the ‘evolving landscape around DEI,’ the fast-food giant said Monday it would no longer set goals to increase diversity in senior leadership,” per USA Today. “It also said it would end a program that encouraged suppliers to increase diversity in their ranks, rebranded its diversity team as the ‘Global Inclusion Team’ and paused external surveys.”

The name change is “more fitting for McDonald’s in light of our inclusion value and better aligns with this team’s work,” McDonald’s said in the statement. 

“The burger giant didn’t elaborate, but several other companies, including Lowe’s and Ford Motor Co., suspended their participation in an annual survey by the Human Rights Campaign that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees,” noted The Associated Press. 

Despite how the changes are being characterized in the media, McDonald's said it has not abandoned its mission to maintain a diverse workforce. 

“The fast food chain said it saw growth in leadership, supplier and franchisee diversity in 2024 due to its previous commitments,” according to CNN Business. “McDonald’s said 30% of its leaders in the United States were from underrepresented groups and 78% of employees 'scored McDonald’s positively' in the company’s employee pulse survey. The company also said it met its goal to allocate 25% of supply-chain spending to diverse-owned suppliers by the end of 2025.”

Meanwhile, Allstate was criticized for a video message delivered during the Sugar Bowl.

“Allstate CEO Tom Wilson ‘ignited a firestorm of backlash’ on social media Thursday with a video statement addressing Wednesday's terror attack in New Orleans, in which he suggested Americans have an ‘addiction to divisiveness’ and must ‘accept people's imperfections and differences,’” according to Sports Business Journal. 

Wilson went on to invite viewers to “join Allstate working in local communities all across America to amplify the positive, increase trust and accept people's imperfections and differences. Together we win." 

Allstate “appeared to wipe its social media of a video message,” according to Fox News. “The video was received poorly online, with many Allstate customers threatening to boycott the company over its ‘tone-deaf’ messaging.”