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With a critical Black Friday sales event looming, American mega-retailer Walmart is walking back its commitment to woke corporatism – part of a broader, nationwide rejection of far left policies in the aftermath of Donald Trump‘s election earlier this month.
Walmart’s policy shift appears to have been motivated in part by pressure from activist Robby Starbuck, who hailed the news as “the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America.” Starbuck proceeded to challenge mega-retailers Amazon and Target to follow suit.
“Companies like Amazon and Target should be very nervous that their top competitor dropped woke policies first,” Starbuck wrote on X. “I think Target specifically will suffer serious sales problems as a result and Walmart will benefit.”
Walmart is the largest jobs provider in the United States, with 1.6 million employees. It operates an estimated 4,600 stores across America. With an estimated market capitalization of $660.1 billion, it is the twelfth-largest company in the world.
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According to Starbuck, he was preparing to run a “story on wokeness” at the retail giant but instead engaged with company executives in “productive conversations to find solutions.”
The activist said Walmart’s decision would “send shockwaves throughout corporate America.”
Per Starbuck, these are the changes Walmart committed to implementing…
- Surveys: Walmart will no longer participate in the HRC’s woke Corporate Equality Index.
- Products: Monitor the Walmart marketplace to identify and remove inappropriate sexual and/or transgender products marketed to children.
- Funding of Grants: Review all funding of Pride, and other events, to avoid funding inappropriate sexualized content targeting kids.
- Equity: We will not extend the Racial Equity Center which was established in 2020 as a special five-year initiative.
- Supplier Diversity: We will evaluate supplier diversity programs and ensure they do not provide preferential treatment and benefits to suppliers based on diversity. We don’t have quotas and won’t going forward. Financing eligibility will no longer be predicated on providing certain demographic data.
- LatinX: Walmart will no longer use the term in official communications.
- Trainings: Walmart will discontinue racial equity training through the Racial Equity Institute.
- DEI: Walmart will discontinue the use of DEI as a term while ensuring a respectful and supportive environment. Our focus is on Belonging for ALL associates and customers.
Walmart executives told Fox Business the changes outlined by Starbuck had been in the works for several years – and were not prompted by their conversations with him. Instead, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said its policy shifts were indicative of a willingness “to change alongside our associates and customers who represent all of America.”
Walmart is the latest – and largest – American company to retreat on woke capitalism. Its move comes as the discount retailer is already eating into upper middle class shoppers who frequent Target – a company which aggressively promotes woke propaganda. According to the company, 75% of its market share gains during the third quarter of 2024 came from households earning more than $100,000 a year.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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3 comments
The real story is Walmart abandons low prices. Nary a word from Folks about how the liberal socialist CFOs at Walmart and Lowes have said Trump’s tariffs will force them to raise prices.
This will be a new era of crony capitalism as companies dump money at Trump in exchange for tariff exclusions.
The angst about DEI and CRT is SHT.
What about their commitment to anti-gun agendas and causes? That needs to be nixed. Wal-Mart needs to, at a minimum, go back to carrying handgun ammo, as well as ammo for all types of rifles in common use (.223, 5.56mm, .7.62×39, etc). Ideally, Wal-Mart would again sell AR-15’s, AK-47’s, and variants thereof, as well as handguns.
I gave up on shopping at Target a couple of years ago. I’ll never set foot in a Target again.
Bezos is waking up as he is now trying to get his Washington Post more “fair and balanced”. Let’s see if he does the same with Amazon.
I gave up on Walmart too, but will see if they keep good on this commitment.
In the meantime, I try to give my business to local shops and stores.