Adobe Scaling Back on Diversity Efforts

[Nancy OShea]

https://www.businessinsider.com/adobe-ends-diversity-hiring-targets-following-industry-changes-inter...

That hasn't panned out too well for the retailer Target.

https://fortune.com/2025/04/01/target-dei-demise-boycott-foot-traffic-down-eighth-consecutive-week/

[Chuck Uebele]

We'll have to see how this pans out. I think the left accuses the right of all the "phobics" being against DEI, but I think that DEI does more harm to these groups, as not people look at them and think/say that they just got the job because the fit a checkbox, rather than they are actually qualified to do the job. So those talented people are lessened in many people's minds. I retired well before DEI came about, and most all the people with whom I worked were excellent at the jobs, and I never once thought that they got their job because they fit a checkbox.

[Leslie Moak Murray]

Bingo. This is what I've always said. This crap does black people no favors, and I sometimes have to wonder if that was the goal. People won't say this out loud, but there are a LOT of them who will never go to a minority professional like a dentist, doctor, or lawyer because you have no way of knowing if they actually got through medical school or law school on merit or if they were pushed through artificially. Nobody wants a C or D student operating on them. DEI has done lasting damage to them that will take generations to repair. Stop the madness.

[John T Smith]

I didn't save the link, but I read an article that one of the big airlines was going to base future hires on DEI

Whichever airline it was I read about, I'm glad I'm not going to fly again

[Nancy OShea]

FUN FACT:
If you served in the armed forces and listed your military service on a job application, you're a DEI hire.

Employers are required to actively recruit, hire, and retain qualified military veterans whenever possible. Especially airlines.  😇

I'll take DEI hires every day of the week and twice on Sundays.  It's good policy that reinforces positive public perception and brand loyalty.

These are just some of the corporations that maintain DEI policies:

ABC/Disney, Apple, Ben & Jerry's, Coca-Cola, Costco, Delta Air Lines, E.l.f Cosmetics, Lush, Macy's, Nordstrom, TJ Max, Old Navy, Patagonia, Southwest Airlines, Sephora (15% of shelf space goes to Black-owned brands), Ulta, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Kroger, Microsoft, NFL...

Companies that capitulated to political pressure — Target, Amazon, Walmart, and McDonald's — quickly found out that negative public opinion & boycotts cost billions & billions of dollars. Regardless of size, that's a bitter pill for shareholders to swallow. 

It's disappointing to see Adobe take this stance. Hopefully, they see fit to rethink their decision before it adversely impacts their brand.

[Chuck Uebele]

I think saying hiring ex military is DEI is a stretch. I would say that it's more of a type of training that has a lot of advantages in some businesses, particularly the airlines. The military contains a wide range of people and gender, so that's not exactly the same as wanting more, blacks, native Americans, women, etc. It would be like saying hiring Harvard grads is DEI. 

I am surprised that Adobe came out with this statement, as a larger percent of creative are liberal. However, they can have whatever hiring policies they want that are best for their company. And it's fine for the companies that support DEI. I'm not going to light my hair on fire over what a company does for hiring, other than if that company has an impact on my health or safety — then I want the most qualified. 

[Nancy OShea]

I think saying hiring ex military is DEI is a stretch.

By @Chuck Uebele

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Affirmative Action to protect military vets is etched in State & Federal laws, too. USERRA, VEVRAA and FEHA. 

Race & gender quotas are culture-war talking points.  Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Acceptance is an organizational framework that promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to unfair discrimination based on identity or disability.  

It doesn't force the hiring of unqualified people. It encourages hiring & promoting from a wider pool of applicants.

Unconscious biases in various forms have traveled across borders into U.S. workplaces.  As recently as 2019, the male-dominated tech sector in Silicon Valley saw a rise in workplace bias coming from Asians who viewed Dalits (untouchables) as unworthy of jobs and refused to work alongside women because that's "beneath them." 

Crap like this actually happened at Google and other tech firms. And more disturbingly, the worker's unconscious biases crept into the products they designed, from AI to algorithms. 

Everyone in America comes from families who were born on distant shores. Not surprisingly, they brought their biases with them.  Laws are supposed to help us cooperate with one another, not pull us apart.

If the American experiment is going to succeed, bias in the workplace can't be tolerated.  DEI helps us bridge the gaps that divide us by treating workers fairly and making the playing field more level for ALL qualified people. Everyone deserves a fair shake to compete for jobs, regardless of who they are or where they came from.

If we can't all be on board with that basic concept, our 250-year experiment is finished.  

[Ricky336]

I think saying hiring ex military is DEI is a stretch.

By @Chuck Uebele

=============

Unconscious biases in various forms have traveled across borders into U.S. workplaces.  

By @Nancy OShea

It seems that the people of European descent only suffer from 'unconscious basis'. Why is that? Do people of colour suffer from this as well? (Rhetorical question)

[Nancy OShea]

It seems that the people of European descent only suffer from 'unconscious basis'. Do people of colour suffer from this as well?

By @Ricky336

==========

'Unconscious bias' exists in all races.

I remember a black classmate who casually said, "everyone knows that white people can't dance," as if it was a fact rather than a racial stereotype. She was not trying to be malicious, nor was she a racist. But she carried 'unconscious biases' about white people. 

[rayek.elfin]

I like this comment by someone in another discussion forum in relation to DEI:

[insert typical statement saying that DEI allows hires that are not as qualified as white males and/or allows for the hiring of minorities that aren't as qualified as "non-DEI hires" (which typically qualify as white in the US and Western European countries)]

Except that’s not at all what happens. DEI programs exist to keep qualified people who might otherwise get over looked from getting hired. It’s ironic how people like yourself will complain whenever they see a poc or woman in a job they feel they shouldn’t have but don’t bat an eye when less qualified white men get hired. DEI like Woke is being bastardized into a dog whistle to fill in for more blatantly racist terms.

You probably aren't familiar with the quotation, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" by Henry II, are you? As the king, all Henry had to do was say that in front of a group of knights, and VOILA!! While the quote was not expressed as an order, it prompted four knights to travel from Normandy to Canterbury, where they killed Thomas Becket due to an ongoing dispute between crown and church.

Please read that carefully and parse out its meaning as it applies to "wishes" expressed by a vindictive president. If you do, you'll know what I'm saying. Those people aren't taking a job you deserve, they're just better than you.

[Nancy OShea]

Amen that.

[Leslie Moak Murray]

Chinese electronics are excluded from the tariffs. 

[Nancy OShea]

That doesn't help Apple. Their key manufacturing hub is in Vietnam. 😝

HOWARD LUTNICK: the tech exemption is only temporary.

[Ricky336]

Speaking of DEI - what about Disney and their latest 'Snow White' release? Was Rachel Zeglar a DEI hire, or was she given the role based on talent? It could be argued that she was (a DEI hire) to reflect modern trends, but it goes against the whole fairy tale and the whole concept. After all, it was a European - German fairy tale, and not a Latin American tale!

And then there are companies that tried this - Jaguar, the Bud Light saga and Dylan Mulvaney - which had remarkable sales! (Not).

And if we want to talk about diversity, is it possible to have a character of European descent play the part of Disney's 'Moana'? ( In other words, Moana is white!)

To be fair, it can work both ways, can't it? Or is DEI a one-way street? hmmm...🤔

[Nancy OShea]

Honestly, I don't give a flying squirrel what Disney does.  It's a fantasy movie, no basis in reality.  Ditto for the other culture war nonsense that doesn't affect me.

In a few years time, entertainment companies will be using AI generated actors to avoid having to pay for human talent. That's 1000% more offensive to me than an actor's skin-color or gender identity.

Just my 5 cents (adjusted for inflation).  😜

[Nancy OShea]

Despite pressure from activists and organizations like NCPPR, Levi Strauss & their shareholders are committed to maintaining their DEI policies.

[Leslie Moak Murray]

That's pretty funny since Levi's is using AI models of color, saying it's "to increase diversity" as they take bookings away from human models of color. Here's one of their efforts: https://hypebeast.com/2023/3/levi-human-models-ai-generated-supplement 

I thank God that my modeling career ended before all this AI stuff started.

[Nancy OShea]

Testing AI to supplement their pool of models isn't the same as replacing human models with AI. 

The worst offenders of AI are sites like Temu & Shein. You can never be sure what you're getting because everything is AI generated, including the products. Definitely 'Buyer Beware.'

https://www.boredpanda.com/hilarious-online-shopping-fails/

[Leslie Moak Murray]

Temu and Shein are horrible. They steal art too. Anyway "supplementing" is taking jobs away from human models. Every time they do it, that's a booking that would have gone to a human girl of color.

[Leslie Moak Murray]

It's not letting me upvote things today!

[Nancy OShea]

that's a booking that would have gone to a human girl of color.

By @Leslie Moak Murray

=========

Or gay man. 😆

[Leslie Moak Murray]

Haha!