Corporate Mentions Of ‘DEI' Dropped 72% In 2025, Analysis Finds
Corporations have faced anti-DEI pressure from the government and conservative activists. (AP ... More Photo/John Hanna, File)
Usage of the acronym 'DEI' in Fortune 100 company reports had the steepest decline between 2024 and 2025, decreasing by 98%, while each individual term also declined significantly: Mentions of 'diversity' dropped 62%, 'equity' decreased 48% and 'inclusion' declined 43%.
Gravity Research, a firm that studies how companies manage their reputations and respond to social pressures, analyzed more than 1,300 financial filings, proxy statements, earnings calls and other documents filed between 2023 and 2025.
References to DEI also decreased between 2023 and 2024, though to a lesser degree: 'DEI' declined 26% between those years, while mentions of 'diversity' dropped 30%.
Words explicitly referring to diversity, including 'DEI' and 'racial diversity,' declined 72% overall between 2024 and 2025, while words Gravity Research considered to be more neutral, like 'inclusion' and 'belonging,' declined 34% overall.
Gravity Research found companies adopted more 'neutral' language in 2024 as a potentially less controversial alternative to DEI, but had largely abandoned these terms by 2025 amid pressure from the federal government.
Use of the word 'belonging' increased 87% between 2023 and 2024 as a 'safer' alternative to DEI, but mentions of 'belonging' decreased 47% between 2024 and 2025.
Mentions of employee resource groups, which are often centered around racial or gender groups and were a frequent casualty of the corporate push away from DEI, dropped between 2024 and 2025, and many of these references mention these groups are open to all.
Earnings calls were the only place where mentions of 'DEI' increased, rising 390% between 2024 and 2025, as heightened scrutiny over DEI programs led to an increase in media and shareholder inquiries about these initiatives.
Joanna Piacenza, vice president of thought leadership at Gravity Research, said the report 'speaks volumes to the current political environment. It's become so charged, it's become so risky for corporations to speak publicly about their DEI commitments, stating companies are 'trying to keep up not only with how polarized things have become, but what they think consumers and other stakeholders want from them.'
Many companies have dropped their diversity programs or reframed them to focus more on general 'inclusion' or employee well-being amid pressure from conservative activists and the federal government. Among the first executive orders of President Donald Trump's second term were multiple directives targeting DEI programs across the federal government, which included threats to 'combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences.' Companies like Meta, Amazon and Walmart began dismantling diversity programs before Trump took office, and many more backed off after his inauguration. Many of these companies have abandoned diversity hiring goals, which Trump has framed as illegal discrimination, and some of these companies have cut DEI officer roles or transformed them to focus on general employee development. Anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck, who has more than 800,000 followers on X, has claimed credit for several of the companies that have watered down their diversity initiatives, including Pepsi, Walmart and McDonald's, by threatening to expose their 'woke' policies on his social media.
A Gravity Research survey published last month found two in five companies plan to decrease LGBTQ Pride Month engagement this year, while another two-fifths said their engagement would stay the same and the rest said they had not decided. The survey elicited responses from 49 corporate executives from Fortune 1000 companies, some of whom cited pressure from the Trump administration and conservative activists. Of the companies who said they would pull back support for Pride, 43% of those said they would reduce external-facing engagement, including social media posts and presences at Pride marches. Gravity Research president Luke Hartig told Forbes the survey 'reveals just how dramatically the cultural and political tides have turned,' stating two-fifths of companies scaling back Pride Month engagement 'would've been unthinkable just five years ago.' Several of the nation's largest Pride organizations told Forbes earlier this year some longtime corporate sponsors pulled back funding this year, leaving the organizations in a bind to replace the lost money. San Francisco Pride told Forbes it lost $200,000 in funds after previous sponsors including Comcast and Diageo pulled out, while NYC Pride said a quarter of its sponsors either withheld or reduced funding this year, representing $750,000 in lost funds.
2 In 5 Corporations Scaling Back LGBTQ Pride Engagement Amid Trump Administration Pressure, Survey Finds (Forbes)
IBM Reportedly Walks Back Diversity Policies, Citing 'Inherent Tensions': Here Are All The Companies Rolling Back DEI Programs (Forbes)
St. Louis Pride Says Anheuser-Busch Ended Sponsorship—As Corporate Support For LGBTQ Pride Celebrations Dwindles (Forbes)
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