What Does Constellation's Retreat from DEI Mean for the Wine Industry?
News of sales of brands obscured another important development at the company
On Wednesday, it was announced that Constellation Brands, one of the largest drinks companies in the world, sold its value brands to The Wine Group while retaining its higher-priced luxury wine properties. Interestingly, this announcement obscured an announcement one day earlier that the publicly-traded company was retreating from its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion commitments. Constellation is now at least the third major drinks company to back off DEI initiatives since the end of 2024.
In September, Molson Coors announced it was withdrawing from its DEI efforts. The month before, Brown Forman announced its retreat from DEI policies. In both cases, the companies withdrew from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equity Index survey, which measured a company’s commitment to DEI principles.
Interestingly, both Brown Forman and Constellation both announced their pullback from DEI efforts soon after being attacked by conservative activist Robbie Starbuck, who criticized both companies for excessive DEI initiatives. Starbuck has made a practice of calling out companies to his more than 1 million social media followers.
All this begs the question: Where is DEI in the world of wine today?
Clearly, the wine and drinks industry is not immune to the pushback and criticism that DEI and affirmative action efforts have experienced over the past year or more. Among the events that have given companies pause concerning DEI initiatives is the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against affirmative action in academia in the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard case.
Moreover, a degree of backlash against DEI, “woke” and diversity hiring has risen over the past two years and has given many companies pause. Nothing exemplified this movement more than the boycott against Bud Light beer after it engaged with transgender personality Dylan Mulvaney, which led to more than $1.4 billion in lost revenue.