Costco may want to rethink its new DEI brand ambassador: Al Sharpton

The Reverend Al Sharpton’s stunt to support Costco’s “strong commitment” to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) could be the “kiss of death” for the wholesale giant.

Despite a turnaround by other major retailers in dropping DEI procedures, Costco shareholders voted overwhelmingly to keep incorporating identity factors such as race and gender into the company’s policies. Sharpton suggested that consumers boycott companies that focus on merit.

With 100 members of his National Action Network, the MSNBC host walked through the Harlem Costco in New York calling for a “buy-in ” at a press conference where he explained that he had bought $25 gift certificates for the group.

“We’re going shopping at Costco because they’ve stood with us. People that stand with us, we will stand with them,” he said.

During a speech at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C.  to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sharpton defended DEI policies and called for boycotts even as President Trump soon issued executive orders ending DEI initiatives from the federal government.

“Why do we have DEI? We have DEI because you denied us diversity, you denied us equity, you denied us inclusion. DEI was a remedy to the racial institutionalized bigotry practice in academia and in these corporations. Now, if you want to put us back in the back of the bus, we going to do the Dr. King-Rosa Parks on you,” Sharpton said.

He blasted Trump’s move during his remarks at Costco.

“For Donald Trump to be able to cancel a commitment they made is an outright front to the black community, LGBTQ community, and women,” Sharpton said. “So that is why we will stand with those that stand with us. Costco immediately stepped out and said that they were not back down on DEI.”

Social media users told Costco exactly how they felt.

Frieda Powers

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