PepsiCo Scales Back DEI Amid Political Pressure
Plus a look at their 2023/2024 Commitments to Black America
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Robby Starbuck strikes again — this time he released a list of reported DEI changes at PepsiCo.
Bloomberg also reported the following confirmed changes via a memo from PepsiCo’s CEO Ramon Laguarta:
No more workforce representation targets
Elimination of Chief DEI Officer role
Supplier diversity expanded to include all small businesses, reducing focus on marginalized suppliers
It is important to understand what is behind the letters “DEI,” so as usual, we are here to provide PepsiCo’s 2023-2024 racial equity data, but considering the news from Robby Starbuck and Bloomberg, it has been made unclear on whether:
👨🏾🌾 “Supplier Diversity” is expanding to include small businesses or being eliminated altogether
👩🏾🍳Initiatives like Pepsi Dig In and the Black Restaurant Accelerator will be eliminated
📈Any “DEI-related” metrics will remain tied to Executive Compensation in relation to core business goals.
While the 2023/2024 full community investment is also not clear, PepsiCo reported the following:
Taste Of Tomorrow: $250K in scholarships to HBCU students pursuing STEM degrees across 9 HBCUs for the 2025 school year.
$100K total to Florida A&M University and Prairie View A&M University for STEM resources to enhance their programs and foster innovation for long-term advancement of their programs and bringing an R&D educational workshop series to their campuses for further access.
PepsiCo has long touted that in the 2000’s, they became the first major company to link executive bonuses to Diversity & Inclusion and in 2020 they committed to investing $670M over 5-years to support Black and Hispanic businesses and communities.
We also recently covered a Lay’s Super Bowl ad that showcased a Black-owned farm in their supply chain and this really goes to show that at any moment, even our favorite brands could cave to the current political pressure, so it is extremely important to follow the data and not just rely on whether a company keeps or eliminates DEI.
We hope despite the removal of target goals, PepsiCo remains transparent and committed to inclusion.
Be sure to follow BDI as we continue to share racial equity data on PepsiCo and others, as corporations continue to retreat from DEI due to political pressure.
Be informed.
The Black Dollar Initiative is the 501(c)(3) research and data hub that powers the Black Dollar Index. Your donation will go towards helping us research, analyze, and report over 120 corporations across 20+ data points. Donations are tax-deductible (EIN: 85-2383485).
Sources:
https://www.pepsidigin.com/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-20/pepsico-joins-companies-retreating-from-dei-in-trump-era