A weeklong boycott of McDonald’s tied to the company’s rollback of DEI policies has ended without making, as far as I can tell, any impact at all.
McDonald’s may be struggling for all kinds of reasons – but in this area, at least, it appears the company is on firm footing.
And of course, McDonald’s is part of a broader movement in corporate America that is pushing back against diversity, equity, and inclusion…
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It took a while for things to reach a boiling point.
McDonald’s announced back in early January that it was planning to retire some of its DEI practices and that it was changing the name of its diversity team to the “Global Inclusion Team” – baking off the specific naming conventions that had landed companies in hot water as things got politicized.
And things were pretty quiet for…months.
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Of course, the reality was just that groups were quietly organizing and planning for the eventual announcemenf oa b oycott.
More specifically, The People’s Union USA (a grassroots progressive organization) publicized an “economic blackout” to run for one week, ending on June 30th.
As The People’s Union’s founder John Schwarz said on Instagram, “Let them feel it. Let them hear us. Let this be just the beginning.”
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I am quite sure that the group did a good job of organizing and that many people put off McDonald’s for a week.
I’m also quite sure it had essentially no impact.
You know why?
Because McDonald’s didn’t even bother to respond.
(Unlike with the FDA dye ban, where McDonald’s has been VERY communicative.)
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No press release.
No negotiations.
No begging.
Nothing.
McDonald’s just ignored it and moved on.
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From my perspective – anyoner who was thinking a lot about DEI was probably already not a huge McDonald’s fan…
So it’s not super clear to me that a ton of people who liked McDonald’s would suddenly change their tune because of it removing DEI.
I could be wrong! But that’s my perception.
(Let me know in the comments if you think I’m missing something here.)
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McDonald’s is, of course, not the only company to back off of past DEI initiatives.
(Although it IS one of the largest companies to do so.)
Target, Amazon, Facebook, Walmart, Lowe’s, Jack Daniel’s, PepsiCo, and plenty of other companies have followed suit – either scaling back or completely eliminating initatives as DEI has become a much more polarizing topic.
Of course, McDonald’s is also facing broader issues at play, namely:
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The next generation after Millennials – Gen Z – is reshaping the broader food landscape in pretty profound ways.
And fast food companies like McDonald’s in particular are struggling to adapt.
Because, very simply, Gen Z is pretty different.
For example:
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Members of Gen Z dine out less than Millennials did at the same age.
Gen Z is also more focused on healthier and more “crafted” food – which is essentially the opposite of fast food.
Not surprisingly due to these factors, the value perception of fast food in general is pretty low in Gen Z surveys…which of course is an ongoing challenge for McDonald’s even as it has successfully improved wallet share among teenagers (as of 2023, the most recent data I could find).
But more broadly…
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While the boycott has pretty clearly made zero impact with McDonald’s…
The fact of the matter is that many Americans – and especially many members of Gen Z – view DEI as “table stakes” and the fact that companies like McDonald’s have backed off, wound down, or eliminated their DEI initiatives isn’t going to improve perceptions.
When you think about it more broadly, this is a long-term risk for McDonald’s even if the specifics of this boycott didn’t do a whole lot.
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So that’s the state of play right now – McDonald’s backs off DEI and appears not to have suffered any immediate consequences for doing so.
But there’s the specter of potential long-term brand damage (at least with some groups) for having started down that path and then turned away.
What do you think? Has any of this changed your eating habits? Let us know in the comments.
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