While some corporations don't seem capable of figuring out that the American people aren't into woke policies and DEI initiatives, Tractor Supply Co. (TSC) seems to have deduced the secret code into keeping customers, and possibly even expanding their base.
According to Filmmaker and journalist Robby Starbuck, TSC was found to have given $100,000 to an activist group that "worked around the clock" to stop deportations under the Trump administration. The group was called "Conexion Americas' and was previously headed by the National Council of La Raza, a George Soros funded organization.
When Starbuck broke the news, Hal Lawton was inundated with posts from angry customers, causing him to lockdown his X account. Meanwhile, the company lost over $2 billion in market cap.
After some silence by the company, it released a statement on Thursday that wasn't just a step back from the leftism the company had engaged in. It threw the car in reverse and slammed on the gas pedal. It made a list of five promises to its customers.
- It will stop submitting data to the Human Rights Campaign.
- It will refocus its engagement groups on mentoring, networking, and supporting the business.
- It will prioritize rural American concerns including "ag education, animal welfare, veteran causes and being a good neighbor and stop sponsoring non-business activities like pride festivals and voting campaigns."
- It's kicking DEI to the curb and abandoning any DEI related goals.
- Abandoning its carbon emission goals in order to focus on land and water conservation efforts.
This is a massive message to send in this day and age. TSC did what every company should do and listened to its customers, wholly abandoning the radical leftism that's plaguing much of corporate America and getting back to what its customers find important.
It would appear that TSC learned from the Bud Light debacle. It's pretty clear that the company's usual customers are rural Americans, farmers, and people who actually sweat and get their hands dirty for a living. In other words, you'd find few (if any) neon-haired, non-binary, two-spirit, social justice obsessed types in the aisles of its stores. Nor will you find the woke investor class there. This is a point Starbuck made himself.
This is proof that when America pushes back, it wins. It truly took a few years for corporate America to learn the lesson, but the lesson is sinking in as corporations are pushing back from radical leftism more and more. Ultimately, a corporation cares about nothing but money, and when America says it's going to stop giving the corporation any, the knee bends fast.
(READ: LGBT Community Is Learning the Hard Lesson That Corporations Don't Actually Care About Them)