• by Maarten Albarda , Featured Contributor, Yesterday

On May 25, it will be exactly five years ago since George Floyd died senselessly in Minneapolis during his arrest. The terrible video of the event went around the world, and people everywhere rallied to try and change police brutality and inequality in general.

Companies came out in support of these efforts en masse. Long-overdue initiatives like diversity & inclusion and equal treatment of men and women found their way into the boardroom, into corporate policies of HR departments, and into advertising. Companies like Walmart, Target, Starbucks, Microsoft, Nike, and Coca-Cola all ran advertising campaigns in support of these initiatives.

But today, five years later, under pressure of a dramatically different sociopolitical landscape, most companies that touted their support for initiatives like DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), and what some critics term "woke-ism," have made dramatic U-turns. The current U.S. government, emboldened by a 2023 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down race-based affirmative action in higher education, reversed policy in a very visible way. A long list of companies followed suit. That list includes Amazon, Google, Meta, Target, McDonald's, Ford, and Harley-Davidson.

Other companies have gone the opposite way and have stuck to their principles (sometimes forced by their shareholders). These companies include Apple (shareholders rejected a proposal to ban DEI initiatives), Microsoft, Delta Air Lines, The Coca-Cola Company, Ben & Jerry’s and Patagonia.

The Internationalist conducted a survey in April 2025 in partnership with the ANA’s Center for Brand Purpose, and just published the very timely paper “Clarifying Purpose Amid Increased Uncertainty.”

The report notes that brands attempting to build purpose often find themselves under increased scrutiny from various stakeholder groups with diametrically opposing viewpoints. This makes it harder for brands to communicate their values or choices without facing potential backlash from one side or the other.

And these decisions have real-world impact. Reports MSNBC: “Target missed first-quarter revenue estimates as transactions fell, and the retailer cut its full-year sales outlook. Target in part blamed falling consumer sentiment, uncertainty about tariffs, and backlash to its rollback of key diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for its performance.”

The intensified scrutiny around DEI and “woke-ism" makes marketers more cautious. The "Clarifying Purpose" report found that 63% of marketers say more brands are striving to be "politically neutral,” and 42% agree that "Brands are simply 'playing it safe,' which reflects our current cultural climate.”

So what’s a marketer to do? My recommendation is twofold:

-- If your brand has a longstanding, and therefore natural or even organic positioning that includes DEI messaging, your purpose-led brand building is probably safe. Target was one of those brands until it decided it wasn’t. The reason Target’s finances are being impacted so significantly is that it went so hard the other way it offended consumers more deeply than, say, Walmart or Lowes, who also backtracked.

-- If your brand bolted DEI on as a kind of virtue messaging, you are probably OK to walk away. The same is true if your target audience is distinctly overrepresented in the camp of people that speak out against “woke-ism.”

The "Clarifying Purpose" report stresses that "the challenge in getting purpose right lies in doing it meaningfully, systematically, and authentically.” If you can’t do that, just don’t do it at all.