Corporations are no longer solely concerned with selling the best products.
They have chosen to get involved in divisive culture wars.
And a legendary American company admitted it made a mistake with one huge “woke” failure.
Harley-Davidson in dangerous Bud Light territory
No company destroyed its brand worse than Bud Light.
The beer brand made the catastrophic mistake of entering into a brand deal with controversial transgender-identifying TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The company decimated its brand as a blue-collar beer.
Since then, Bud Light has spent millions on advertising with NFL Hall of Famers, comedians, and UFC fighters to bring back its male customer base.
Thus far, the strategy has not worked as sales remain in the tank.
Now motorcycle company Harley-Davidson is flirting with disaster.
Harley-Davidson made the jaw-dropping decision to go “woke,” and it has had serious effects on the brand.
CEO Jochen Zeitz has implemented DEI initiatives that have crippled sales.
Vinny Terranova, owner of Pappy’s Vintage Cycles in Sturgis, South Dakota, explained, “It’s branding suicide. . .A lot of bikers are switching over to Indian. . .They killed Harley. It breaks my heart. . .A Harley valued at $30,000 just a few years ago is now getting only $4,000. . .People don’t even want to be associated with Harley anymore.”
At the most recent big bike rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, Harley-Davidson’s sales booth looked like a ghost town.
But Harley-Davidson might finally be course-correcting.
Conservative filmmaker and political commentator Robby Starbuck began doing deep dives into the company, exposing its “woke” initiatives.
Harley-Davidson confesses
Since then, Harley-Davidson has been in damage control mode, and it finally released a statement signaling that it made mistakes.
Harley-Davidson wrote in a statement, “We are saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community. As a Company, we take this issue very seriously, and it is our responsibility to respond with clarity, action and facts.”
The statement first blames people on social media for trying to “divide the Harley-Davidson community,” which is a red flag.
The statement continued, “Earlier this year, we initiated an internal stakeholder review to better align Company activities to the needs of both our business and community. Based on our review, we are committed to the following: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): We see it as every leader’s role to ensure we have an employee base that reflects our customers and the geographies in which we operate. It is critical to our business that we hire and retain the best talent and that all employees feel welcome. That said, we have not operated a DEI function since April 2024, and we do not have a DEI function today. We do not have hiring quotas and we no longer have supplier diversity spend goals.”
So Harley-Davidson is attempting to have it both ways.
The company is saying that it is committed to DEI, but also said that it is currently not focused on DEI and will not be in the future.
That is a muddled message.
The statement added that “Harley-Davidson will not participate in HRC scoring going forward.” This is big.
HRC stands for the Human Rights Campaign, a massive LGBTQ+ organization.
The HRC gives companies a score based on their commitment to forwarding LGBTQ+ goals, and that score can then be used to get investment from major assessment management firms like BlackRock that are all in on “woke” initiatives.
The leadership at Harley-Davidson clearly wants to be “woke,” but the forces of reality are pushing back.
Despite the statement, many are still calling for the CEO to be fired.
Stay tuned to Unmuzzled News for any updates to this ongoing story.
