Scared to speak up about DEI or sustainability in the current environment? Don’t be: fortune favours the bold

“Just 41% of marketers predict diversity and inclusion will be a marketing priority in the next five years, a decline from 2021’s 59%."

That was ages ago though: back when ‘brand purpose’ was all the rage and inclusivity was in. For a long stretch we all seemed to agree that doing good was good for business. Brands were shouting loudly and proudly about their DEI and sustainability efforts.

The pendulum has now swung dramatically the other way. Thanks to a ‘war on woke’, brands are afraid of inclusivity. Nobody wants to be boycotted, after all. This fear manifests itself internally in department cuts: Google, Meta and Zoom have all made headlines recently for downsizing programs related to DEI. And we saw it manifest externally in a huge drop in 2024 Pride campaigns. Recently farm equipment maker John Deere went even further and said it will no longer sponsor “social or cultural awareness” events at all. DEI has officially been downgraded: just 41% of marketers predict diversity and inclusion will be a marketing priority in the next five years, a decline from 2021’s 59%, according to The CMO Survey.

Even the weather has been labelled ‘woke’ by elements of the right. The world is on fire and yet brands no longer seem to think of sustainability as a hot topic. When trends company Contagious (my former employer) interviewed 100 ad-industry leaders for its annual Radar report, it found talk of the climate crisis was “conspicuously absent”.

As someone who has frequently been attacked by online hate mobs, I understand why brands don’t want to raise their heads above the parapet anymore. It’s scary out there! But this wholesale retreat from purpose is even scarier. Last month WFA’s CEO Stephan Loerke sounded the alarm about the industry taking a step back from public positions on DEI and sustainability. “[D]elivering on DEI and sustainability targets is an integral part of the growth agenda, not a distraction from it,” Loerke said. “For each agenda - and they are interlinked - the ROI is clear. All the data – including new research that the Unstereotype Alliance [unveiled] at Cannes – shows that progressive brands drive business growth.”

There are enormous amounts of data showing that investing in DEI and sustainability is good for the bottom line. Some of the latest research comes from System1 which analyzed every UK TV ad aired in the past four Junes and found LGBTQ+ visibility in advertising does not change effectiveness for broad audiences—it makes campaigns more effective with LGBTQ+ consumers. It has a net-positive effect. If you’re not convinced yet that DEI is effective, it’s because you don’t want to be.

Again, I know it is scary speaking up in the current environment, but here are a few guiding principles that might help you stay the course when it comes to sustainability and DEI:

 1. Progress is better than perfection

Leo Rayman, founder & CEO of green growth consultancy EdenLab, told Contagious that we’re seeing a phenomenon called ‘greenhushing'. “The sad thing from my point of view is that good things are not being talked about because they're worried about not being perfect and getting attacked,” Rayman said. That leads us to not sharing experiments or failures. Brands should get out of the mindset that something needs to be ‘perfect’ to be communicated. Rather we need to create ‘safe spaces’ where brands can share their progress when it comes to DEI and sustainability.

2. Have a crisis playbook in place in case of backlash

Every brand should be prepared for a backlash moment and have a plan in place. What will happen if an angry mob comes after your marketing director? What sort of response will you have? There is no excuse for not being prepared.

3. Focus on your talent, not your critics

“The WFA-led 2023 Global DEI Census found one in seven of the people in marketing globally may leave the industry as it doesn’t reflect, accommodate or welcome their lived experiences,” Loerke cautioned before Cannes. “We definitively need to change that if we want to continue to be able to attract the best talent.” If you want your brand to be futureproof you need to focus on attracting the best talent by creating an inclusive workplace—not appeasing online hate mobs. The current environment may seem scary but remember this: fortune favours the bold.

This is an article by Arwa Mahdawi, Guardian columnist and author of “Strong Female Lead”.