Some major corporations are facing backlash from "anti-woke" shareholders who are opposed to ESG initiatives.
These activists are crashing company meetings saying the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) mandates that are now part of their corporations are hurting their earnings. This has led to votes on anti-ESG measures.
According to ISS-Corporate, in the first five months of 2024, shareholders at S&P 500 companies have voted on 70 ESG measures. There were just 30 in 2022 and only seven in 2020.
John Horvat is a Director of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, Property. He said these "anti-woke" shareholders are actually using a familiar tactic from the more woke individuals to try and turn around ESG ideas in the workplace.
"A lot of major corporations are facing shareholders who don't like what's happening and don't like the fact that their woke positions are having an impact on their earnings," said Horvat.
Horvat said what these activists are doing is having an impact on their companies. Conservative shareholders have started to become more vocal about woke management in recent months and even more so now in an election year. Horvat said CEO's don't like unrest in their meetings which causes bad publicity.
"Even though most of these resolutions don't pass, they do sort of set up a type of reluctance on the part of the companies to see these things grow," he said.
Horvat noted the "perfect storms" that were Bud Light and Target who faced serious backlash for certain campaigns they launched a few years ago.
"Let's get rid of ESG, let's get rid of DEI, these programs are dying," said Horvat.