While much of corporate America has spent 2026 quietly scrubbing the word "diversity" off its homepages, a stubborn club of household names just did the opposite. During the 2026 proxy season, shareholders at Apple, Walt Disney, and Costco Wholesale were handed a clean chance to rein in the DEI machine — and they slammed the door on it. Anti-DEI shareholder proposals averaged a microscopic share of the vote this season (roughly 1.7% on average, per the 2026 proxy-season tallies), and not one passed. Translation: the boards and big investors at these companies are not retreating. They are doubling down.
The Great DEI Retreat Has Holdouts
Make no mistake — the broader retreat is real. A Gravity Research survey found nearly 40% of executives planned to cut Pride-related engagement in 2026, and Pride organizations from coast to coast are bleeding sponsors; Phoenix Pride even filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as reported by LGBTQ Nation. But "go woke, go broke" does not tell the whole story. A handful of brands you probably have in your pocket, your fridge, and your shopping cart never blinked. They did not just keep their DEI programs — their own shareholders voted to protect them.
Apple: A Perfect 100 and Proud of It
Apple sits at the very top of the BWF Woke Scale with a flawless 100/100 woke score. The tech giant publishes glossy ESG reports, releases annual Pride Collections, has held a perfect HRC Corporate Equality Index score for more than 20 years, leans heavily Democratic in its political giving, and its leadership signed the CEO Action for Diversity pledge. When activist investors floated a proposal to scale back DEI, 97% of Apple shareholders shot it down. If you would rather your phone not double as a billboard for the agenda, a provider like Patriot Mobile (woke score 4/100) is the cleaner call — and you can browse more options in our Non-Woke Technology Brands guide.
Disney: 80/100 and Still "Reimagining Tomorrow"
Walt Disney clocks an 80/100, landing it squarely in extremely-woke territory. The entertainment empire publishes ESG reports, ran the "Reimagine Tomorrow" DEI initiative, has scored 100 on the HRC CEI since 2007, sponsors Pride events around the globe, and donates heavily to Democrats. For all the talk of Disney "learning its lesson" after years of box-office and subscriber turbulence, its 2026 shareholder base showed no appetite for actually changing the playbook.
Coca-Cola: 74/100 in Your Fridge
Coca-Cola pours in at 74/100 — the same brand that infamously rolled out "be less white" diversity training is still a fixture of the woke corporate establishment. For families rethinking what is in the pantry, our Non-Woke Food & Beverage Brands list, along with prepper-friendly outfits like My Patriot Supply (1/100) and patriotic upstarts like Patriot Red (5/100), proves there are plenty of choices that keep politics out of your cart.
Costco: The 45/100 Tightrope Walker
Costco Wholesale is the most calculated case at 45/100 — woke, but careful. It keeps DEI off its homepage while signaling just enough to stay out of the activist crosshairs, from dropping Palmetto Cheese over its founder’s BLM comments to its handling of the George Floyd moment. Most tellingly, when an anti-DEI proposal reached its annual meeting, Costco’s board urged shareholders to vote it down — and roughly 98% obliged. That pattern, kicked off by the landmark Apple and Costco votes, carried straight into the 2026 season. Shopping the warehouse club? Compare the alternatives in our Non-Woke Retail Brands hub first.
The Exception That Proves the Point: Berkshire Hathaway
Here is the kicker: a blue-chip giant does not have to play this game. Berkshire Hathaway scores just 10/100. Warren Buffett’s sprawling empire keeps DEI as a tick-the-box afterthought, runs no splashy activist marketing, and leans on a conservative executive culture. If a $1-trillion conglomerate can simply opt out of the culture war, the "we had no choice" excuse from Apple and Disney rings hollow. They had a choice. They chose woke.
What This Means For Your Wallet
The real 2026 lesson is that corporate "rollbacks" are wildly uneven. Some companies are genuinely changing course. Others are using the cover of a national retreat to quietly delete a webpage while their boards and shareholders vote to keep the machine humming. The only way to tell the difference is to check the receipts — which is exactly what our database of more than 2,400 scored brands exists to do. Before you tap, swipe, or sip, look up the score. Apple, Disney, Costco, and Coca-Cola just told you exactly where they stand. Vote with your wallet accordingly.