DEI Rebranded: U.S. Companies Change Term To 'Belonging'

Earlier this year, several major U.S. corporations claimed to abandon initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in conjunction with the new administration. However, a new report shows that many of those companies didn't actually do away with DEI. Instead, they simply renamed the concept to "belonging."

Will Hild is the Executive Director of Consumers First and first noticed the word swap and explained the details to Fox Business earlier this week.

"It's obvious, ‘belonging’ is nothing more than DEI by another name," Hild explained. "These companies *actually believing* that no one will notice the fact that they quietly rebranded all of their DEI programs are insulting the intelligence of their own customers."

Companies still prioritizing "DEI" under the guise of "belonging" include Kohl's, Dollar Tree, Disney, Google, and Amazon.

Meet Michelle Banks. Kohl’s recently changed her job title from "Chief DEI Officer" to, wait for it, "Chief Inclusion and Belonging Officer. 

Take a look:

"The company also scrapped its "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" webpage, and created an "Inclusion and Belonging" page instead. Additionally, Kohl’s removed ‘DEI’ from its annual 10-K report and replaced it with "Inclusion and Belonging." Kohl’s DEI obsession has not disappeared, it only has a new name," Hild reports.

Likewise, Dollar Tree replaced a web page titled "Creating a Culture of Inclusion" with one called "Creating a Culture of Belonging." Where the page reads, "Our Associates Embrace and Celebrate Diversity, Equity & Inclusion," now says, "Our Associates Embrace and Celebrate Our Culture of Belonging."

Different words with the same meaning.

In February, the Trump administration singled out Nationwide for its aggressive commitment to internal DEI initiatives. The insurance company responded by removing all mentions of DEI from its website. 

Yet, like the others, Nationwide simply replaced "diversity" with "belonging." Its former "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" page is now titled  – you guessed it – "Belonging, respect and fairness."

See below for a side-by-side comparison:

UPS also applied the simple text swap to any mention of DEI on its website.

It's a good thing Doug Heffernan no longer needs the paycheck. Chubby white guys like him don't belong in 2025.

Previously, the company claimed, "At UPS, diversity, equity, and inclusion are part of our fabric and the legacy of our founders." Now it says, "At UPS, inclusion and belonging are part of our fabric and the legacy of our founders."

Ultimately, the term "belonging" is misleading. In fact, DEI initiatives specifically place people who do not belong in positions for which they would otherwise not qualify.

Call it "DEI," "belonging," or my term "excused racism." The practice of coordinated discrimination is wrong and should have no place in a properly functioning society. 

And yet it's still happening, even inside companies that previously claimed to do away with DEI.

[All photos via Will Hild's excellent reporting here.]