10mo ago

Toyota Curbs DEI Policy After Activist Attack Over LGBTQ Support

www.bloomberg.com

Toyota Motor Corp., will refocus DEI programs and halt sponsorship of LGBTQ events, citing “a highly politicized discussion” around corporate commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Japanese carmaker told employees it will also end participation in notable rankings by LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign and other corporate culture surveys. The company will “narrow our community activities to align with STEM education and workforce readiness,” it said in a memo Thursday to its 50,000 US employees and 1,500 dealers.

The note comes a week after anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck started a social media campaign against the company, calling for customer boycotts because of its support for LGBTQ events and other initiatives. Toyota said at the time that the LGBTQ programs targeted were led by employee groups, not the company directly.

28 comments

Well, I know my next vehicle won't be a Toyota
- Oh the company that donated 3x as much as the second biggest donor to the insurrection folks? They’ve been on my ‘never buy’ list ever since.
  
  Realistically you’d only have to buy one anyway, then drive it for 500k miles.
  
  Wait Toyota denotes to Republicans? Aren't they Japanese?
- They also lobbied against emissions standards in Australia and have been dragging their feet on EVs for years.
The fact that this "Robby Starbuck" shitbag has any type of power over anything is fucking disgusting.
- He's a cat's paw for conservative activists. Specifically, he's close friends with Bill Ackman, a hedge fund manager with too much free time and a chip on his shoulder, who has made "anti-DEI" a focus of his investment strategy.
  Robby whines about DEI, Ackman starts moving money to put downward pressure on the stock, people get scared, and Ackman looks like an investment guru for effectively manipulating the price of securities.
Fuck you Toyota. The highly politicized discussion is exactly why those groups are needed.
One rando gets online for a week and they decide to fuck over millions.
Fuck Toyota, will never buy one and will tell everyone I know not too.
- This is, unfortunately, much bigger than one guy one the internet in the last week. We've been hapless bystanders in the Culture War for... centuries.
Customer boycotts you say? An anti-DEI activist calls for a boycott and you acquiesce?
Guess who’s boycotting now.
- Toyota were already in my shit list because of their anti electrification lobbying and awful EVs.
  This has killed any positive feelings I had left for the company.
- Don't bother. This was just an excuse.
Oh. I thought attacks meant bombing a dealership. Not whining like a little bitch on the internet. Shitass coward car company.
Proof that rainbow capitalism has always and will forever be about money. They don't actually give a fuck about human rights
- Yup, same as sustainability capitalism and environmental capitalism.
I really resent the framing of organized bigotry as "activism."
Toyota does dumb things sometimes. This is one of those times.
Robby is just another right wing weirdo.
- Fucken damnit it looks like that fucken musk photo.
Pandering to fascists... Not a good look.
Damn. They make good cars though
- Eh. They've been on the decline. Enshittification comes for us all.
Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

28 comments