If you've been celebrating the so-called "death of DEI," we have some bad news. The headlines lied to you. A new study out this week confirms what we've been telling Buy Woke Free readers for months: corporate America didn't quit diversity, equity, and inclusion. It just got better at hiding it.
The Study Corporate PR Departments Hoped You'd Miss
Researchers at Catalyst and NYU School of Law's Meltzer Center for Inclusion, Diversity, and Belonging surveyed 2,000 employees at medium and large organizations. The finding that should make every conservative consumer sit up straight: 81% of respondents said their company is still committed to "inclusive workplace culture, fairness in policies and practices, and diverse representation."
Read that again. Eighty-one percent. After two years of press releases announcing the end of DEI. After a parade of CEOs pretending to read the room. After Target, John Deere, and dozens of others issued carefully worded statements telling shareholders they'd "evolved" their priorities.
The researchers were refreshingly honest about what this means. As one report summary put it, the DEI backtracking has been "more about public perception than anything else." In plain English: it was theater. A magic trick. They moved the woke agenda off the website and into the org chart where you can't see it.
The Rebrand Playbook, Exposed
Here's how the scam works. A company facing a boycott doesn't actually dismantle its diversity bureaucracy. That would mean firing the Chief Diversity Officer, gutting the "Employee Resource Groups," and admitting the whole apparatus was a mistake. Instead, they do the corporate equivalent of painting over a sign.
The study found that companies are quietly keeping the substance while scrubbing the labels. The same survey work that revealed the 81% figure tracks with earlier research showing 88% of companies globally still bake diversity and inclusion straight into their workforce reports. The DEI department becomes the "Belonging" team. "Equity" becomes "fairness." Pride flags come down in June and go back up the moment the news cycle moves on.
This is exactly why a single press release means nothing. A company can announce it's "rolling back DEI" on Monday and renew its Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index paperwork on Tuesday. Both things are true. Only one of them gets a headline.
Follow the Money, Not the Messaging
If you want to know which companies are actually changing versus which ones are just changing their vocabulary, look at who's being forced to move by something other than your wallet.
The one place real change is happening is among federal contractors — and not out of conviction. With the federal government now pressuring contractors to certify they don't run "unlawful DEI" programs, and the Justice Department wielding the False Claims Act as a hammer, the math suddenly changed. IBM, which earns a 90 out of 100 on the Buy Woke Free scale, agreed earlier this year to a $17 million settlement in the first False Claims Act case tied to DEI. That's not a company that found religion. That's a company that found a lawsuit.
The numbers prove the point. The study found that just 32% of federal contractors increased their inclusion efforts last year, while 52% of companies without federal contracts kept right on expanding them. Roughly two-thirds of contractors scrubbed DEI language from their messaging — compared to only one-third of everyone else. Translation: companies retreat from woke exactly as far as the government forces them to, and not one inch further.
Why This Matters for Your Wallet
The lesson here isn't complicated. You cannot trust a press release. You can only trust a track record.
This is the entire reason Buy Woke Free exists. We don't grade companies on what their marketing department says this quarter. We grade them on verifiable behavior: HRC Corporate Equality Index scores, documented DEI programs, political contributions, ESG commitments, and PRIDE sponsorships. The brands that score highest didn't get there by accident, and a friendly summer statement doesn't move the needle.
Consider the companies still sitting at the top of the woke scale even after the great "rollback" of 2025: Levi Strauss, Apple, and Microsoft each post a perfect 100. Disney lands at 80. Nike sits at 75. Target — which made headlines for supposedly walking things back — still carries a 71. These aren't scores from 2021. They reflect where these companies actually stand today, after all the supposed soul-searching.
Meanwhile, the family-owned, made-in-America brands we feature keep doing what they've always done: making good products and staying out of your politics. No rebrand required, because there was never anything to hide.
The Bottom Line
The woke establishment wants you exhausted. They're betting that after a few "we hear you" statements, conservative shoppers will declare victory, put their guard down, and go back to spending on autopilot. This study is the proof that the retreat was mostly a performance.
Don't take the bait. The companies that built their brands around dividing Americans by identity haven't changed their hearts — they've changed their fonts. Keep checking the score before you check out. Because if there's one thing this week's research makes crystal clear, it's that 81% of them are counting on you to stop paying attention.
Want to know where your favorite brands really stand? Search any company on BuyWokeFree.com and see the receipts for yourself.