Pepsi has become the latest company to significantly roll back its DEI policies, announcing it will be eliminating its role of Chief DEI officer and ending representation goals in hiring.
“We are revising our DEI program, as 2025 marks the conclusion of our five-year strategy. We see an even bigger opportunity to more deeply embed inclusion throughout the business as a key driver of business growth and will be introducing a new Inclusion for Growth strategy,” PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta said in an employee letter first reported by conservative activist Robby Starbuck.
The letter states that Pepsi will be “transitioning our Chief DEI Officer into a broader role” and that “Inclusion is the responsibility of all leaders at PepsiCo.” A slate of significant DEI rollbacks were mentioned in the letter, including sunsetting “aspirational representational goals” in hiring and centralizing “employee resource groups (ERGs).” Pepsi currently has a number of affinity groups centered around employees’ identity, including groups for Black and Hispanic employees.
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The move comes as a number of companies, including Target, Walmart, John Deere and Harley-Davidson, distanced themselves from DEI amid a nationwide backlash. Upon taking office, President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders combatting DEI in the federal government and set the DOJ’s sites on companies employing discriminatory DEI policies.
“PepsiCo is, and always will be, a place where hard work and performance drive success,” Laguarta said in a statement. “We are moving forward with an approach that strengthens inclusion by continuing to provide all associates with the opportunity to grow, contribute, and advance based on their talent and performance. By embedding inclusion into how we build teams, drive growth, and engage with communities, we are ensuring that PepsiCo remains competitive, innovative, and a great place to build a career.”
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The beverage and snacks conglomerate recently announced in January that they would be pursuing viewpoint neutrality in their media ad spending, after having been affiliated with the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). Trump DOJ’s antitrust division chief nominee, Abigail Slater, accused GARM of engaging in “collusion” to blackball right-wing media and politically disfavored platforms.
Not everyone is convinced that Pepsi is committed to turning away from DEI. Paul Chesser, director of the Corporate Integrity Project for the National Legal and Policy Center, which has a shareholders proposal calling on the brand to end DEI metrics consideration in their executive bonuses, says that the soda-maker’s moves are just “optics.”
“If you check their website it still has DEI cr-p all over it… they’re just pushing it below the surface,” he said.
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