Among the US Public, Positive Reactions to DEI Changes Outweigh Negative Ones
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Corporate Communications Practices

Among the US Public, Positive Reactions to DEI Changes Outweigh Negative Ones

/ Essay

Unless diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) is integral to a brand, US companies' recent responses to the January 2025 DEI-related executive orders—whether reaffirming or moderating their diversity initiatives—appear to have had little impact on the public’s overall trust toward and liking of these companies. This is according to net reputation tracker data from Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 by stakeholder intelligence firm Caliber, which consider both positive and negative reactions to DEI changes. However, a company's business might still be affected depending on how customers’ purchasing patterns react to such changes, especially when called out by one or more core stakeholder groups.

Unless diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) is integral to a brand, US companies' recent responses to the January 2025 DEI-related executive orders—whether reaffirming or moderating their diversity initiatives—appear to have had little impact on the public’s overall trust toward and liking of these companies. This is according to net reputation tracker data from Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 by stakeholder intelligence firm Caliber, which consider both positive and negative reactions to DEI changes. However, a company's business might still be affected depending on how customers’ purchasing patterns react to such changes, especially when called out by one or more core stakeholder groups.

Trusted Insights for What's Ahead®

  • There could be several reasons for the overall reputation consistency. These include the fact that positive reactions balance out or even outweigh negative reactions; consumers’ ultimate focus may be on “hard” brand features such as quality, price and value, convenience, and customer experience, not DEI (unless DEI is central to the brand); and the public recognizes that DEI changes were driven by policy requirements rather than companies abandoning inclusion commitments.
  • US consumers are more accepting of companies reducing their DEI focus than those in other countries. In Caliber’s survey of 1,153 respondents in the US, 435 in the UK, and 709 in Germany, conducted between March 10–16, 2025, 35% of US consumers said that they were more likely to buy products and services from a company that scales back its DEI focus—compared to 26% and 2

Authors

Shahar Silbershatz

Shahar Silbershatz Shahar Silbershatz

Co-founder and CEO
Caliber

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Denise Dahlhoff, PhD

Denise Dahlhoff, PhD Denise Dahlhoff, PhD

Director, Marketing & Communications Research
The Conference Board

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