Paul Graham just posted the chart the boardrooms didn't want you to see. Plotting the number of DEI commitments buried in corporate SEC filings, the venture legend watched the line rocket upward through 2020 and 2021 — then fall off a cliff. His caption said it all: “That’s what a moral fashion looks like.” The post cleared 780,000 views in a day, and for good reason: it finally put a shape on something conservatives have felt in their gut for two years. Peak woke is over. The corporate DEI bubble has popped.
But here’s the part the “go woke, go broke” victory-lap crowd keeps missing. A trend line collapsing in the aggregate does not mean your favorite megabrand quietly walked it back. Some of the biggest names in America are still parked at the very top of our woke meter — memo unread, DEI department fully staffed. We scored more than 2,400 brands across six criteria: ESG reporting, DEI programs, Pride sponsorship, the HRC Corporate Equality Index, political donations, and activist pledges. Here are the ones still partying like it’s 2021.
What “Peak Woke” Actually Looks Like
The data backs Graham up. Since 2024 the corporate retreat has been real and well-documented: companies renamed, downsized, or quietly euthanized the DEI programs they once bragged about, and a long list of household names walked away from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index they’d chased for a decade. The receipts pile up everywhere else too. Hollywood just torched a reported $245 million on the Supergirl flop. West Virginia spent $3 million standing up an anti-“woke” university program that enrolled exactly one student — proof the culture war lights money on fire from both directions. The mood has shifted. The spreadsheets have shifted.
What has not shifted is the scoreboard for the worst offenders. A company can scrub the word “equity” from its careers page and still be writing the same checks, sponsoring the same parades, and earning the same perfect HRC score. That is exactly what our scores are built to catch — and these eight brands are still lighting up red.
The 8 Brands That Didn’t Get the Memo
- Apple — 100/100. A perfect, extremely-woke score. Apple publishes ESG reports, releases annual Pride collections, has held a perfect HRC score for 20-plus years, and when activists filed an anti-DEI proposal, 97% of shareholders voted it down. No retreat here.
- Amazon — 100/100. Amazon maxes out every one of our six dimensions: ESG reporting, DEI programs, Pride sponsorship, a perfect HRC score, heavy left-leaning political money, and CEO Action signatory status.
- Starbucks — 100/100. One of the most aggressively woke corporations in America: a perfect HRC score for over a decade, sweeping LGBTQ+ advocacy, and left-tilted political giving. If you want a non-woke cup, start with our non-woke coffee brands guide.
- Walt Disney — 80/100. The face of woke Hollywood. Disney ran its “Reimagine Tomorrow” DEI initiative, has scored 100 on the HRC index since 2007, and sponsors Pride events globally. It is also the parent looking “shocked” every time a reboot opens to an empty theater. See more in non-woke entertainment brands.
- Nike — 75/100. Extremely woke on comprehensive ESG reporting, formal DEI programs our profile notes have drawn federal scrutiny, active Pride sponsorship through its “Be True” line, and 75%+ of PAC money flowing to Democrats. Prefer an alternative? Check our non-woke apparel brands.
- Target — 71/100. Target is once again stocking its shelves with diversity marketing after the 2023 Pride blowup that cratered its stock. The memo about “peak woke” clearly never reached Minneapolis.
The Quietly Woke Middle
Not every offender screams it from the rooftop. Two brands in this week’s news sit in the murky middle of our meter — woke, but quiet about it.
- Subway — 60/100. Now privately held under Roark Capital, Subway discloses little and leans on plain equal-opportunity language, but still lands on the woke side of our scale. It also managed the rare feat of landing on boycott lists from both political sides in the same week. It is a staple of the fast-food chains we track.
- Comcast — 57/100. The Universal parent is back in the conversation as Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey takes pre-release heat over its casting choices. Comcast’s 57 keeps it firmly in woke territory — a reminder that the studio behind the movie matters as much as the movie.
How to Shop the Post-Woke Era
Here is the honest takeaway. Paul Graham is right that the moral fashion has turned — DEI is no longer the free PR win it was in 2021, and that is genuinely good news. But a fashion going out of style is not the same as a company changing its values. The corporations at the top of this list built their DEI machines when it was profitable and are keeping them running out of conviction, inertia, or fear of activist investors. The aggregate chart falling does not refund the dollars you spend at a brand that scores 100/100.
That is the entire point of a scored database: you do not have to guess whether the retreat is real for the brand in your cart. Look it up. If Apple, Amazon, and Starbucks are still maxing out the meter, your money has better places to live. Browse the categories above, check any brand before you buy, and let the “peak woke” era actually mean something — one purchase at a time. 🇺🇸