Lululemon founder’s remarks have some DEI experts calling for boycotts to combat ‘regressive values’

Founder Chip Wilson bashed Lululemon's DEI efforts. The company has distanced itself from him, but some some DEI experts say it may be time to boycott.

ATLANTA — Outside the Lululemon shop at Ponce City Market in Atlanta on Thursday, Donna Martin, a Black woman seeking yoga gear, learned that the company’s founder, Chip Wilson, had publicly bashed the notion of the brand embracing diversity.

“I don’t get it,” Martin, a project manager at a telecommunications company, said. “But I do get it. This is the world in which we live now, where someone who created a brand doesn’t want everyone supporting that brand. It’s so ridiculous.”

She shook her head. “I got the memo,” Martin said as she walked away from the store.

DEI experts like Tiffany Brandreth said Martin had the right idea: Black consumers concerned about Wilson’s latest dismissal of diversity, equity and inclusion should consider boycotting the retailer.

“There should be a loud call to action for a widespread boycott of corporations that overtly disparage and label DEI as practices rooted in racism and discrimination,” said Brandreth, an organizational psychologist who specializes in DEI. “It’s crucial for anyone who claims to be an ally for DEI to send a powerful message that these regressive values will not be supported that goes beyond mere rhetoric.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/lululemon-chip-wilson-dei-boycott-rcna132338

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