HARLEY-DAVIDSON - GO WOKE, GO BROKE?

The „Woke“ scandal: what happened?

For the past three weeks, Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz and the company in the USA have come under extreme criticism!

According to the media, Harley-Davidson has taken steps in recent years to increase its commitment to social justice, diversity and LGBTQ+ rights. These measures include the introduction of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and support for LGBTQ+ initiatives. These decisions have been sharply criticized by conservative circles, who claim that the brand is betraying its traditional values.

The current Harley-Davidson “woke” scandal in the USA was triggered by a conservative influencer named Robby Starbuck, who published a video on the platform X (formerly Twitter) at the end of July 2024. In this video, he harshly criticized Harley-Davidson for introducing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and for supporting LGBTQ+ initiatives. This criticism led to considerable controversy and calls for a boycott of the brand, particularly in conservative circles and among traditional biker communities 

Zeitz said in a speech at the Zermatt Summit in Switzerland in 2020 that he was a „sustainable Taliban“. The comparison with the Taliban and the traditional American company shocked Starbuck and his social media followers. The question now is, why only four years after the speech?

Harley-Davidson rejects the accusations!

A statement on the allegations was published by Harley-Davidson on Monday.

For over 120 years, Harley-Davidson has brought the joy of motorcycling to riders around the world, no matter who they are, where they come from or what they believe in. We have a guiding principle: “United We Ride” defines how we run our business, how we treat our employees and underscores our commitment. We are saddened by the negativity on social media in recent weeks aimed at dividing the Harley-Davidson community. As a company, we take this issue very seriously and it is our responsibility to respond with clarity, action and facts. Earlier this year, we initiated an internal stakeholder review to better align the company's activities with the needs of our business and our community. Based on our review, we are committed to the following:


- Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI): We see it as the responsibility of every manager to ensure that we have an employee base that reflects our customers and the regions in which we operate. It is critical to our business that we hire and retain the best talent and that all employees feel welcome. That said, we have not operated a DEI function since April 2024 and do not have one today. We no longer have hiring targets or supplier diversity spend targets.
- Business Employee Resource Groups (BERGs): To ensure that our BERGs are aligned with the business, going forward we will assign a member of the leadership team to each of these groups who will focus solely on professional development, networking and mentoring.
- Sponsorship and affiliations: We are currently reviewing all sponsorship activities and organizations with which we are affiliated. Actions resulting from this ongoing review include:
- All sponsorship activities will in future be approved centrally and managed by the company or the Harley-Davidson Foundation.
- As a consumer brand, we will focus solely on growing motorcycling and retaining our loyal riding community, in addition to the support we already provide to first responders, active military members and veterans.
- The Harley-Davidson Foundation is committed to promoting positive change in Milwaukee, such as the recently unveiled Davidson Park at our Juneau Avenue headquarters.
- Harley-Davidson will no longer participate in the HRC evaluation in the future.
- Employee training: The company continually evaluates its training programs to ensure that they meet the needs of our workforce. The training offered will focus on the needs of the business and will not include socially motivated content - at Harley-Davidson, only legally required training has ever been mandatory.

We believe that both a broad employee and customer base is good for business and that ultimately everyone should experience the joy of riding a Harley-Davidson. We remain committed to listening to all members of our community as we continue our journey together as the world's most desirable motorcycle brand.
UNITED WE RIDE

Translated to the best of our knowledge! Original in the attachment.

https://twitter.com/harleydavidson/status/1825564138032234994

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If you could have guessed the reactions beforehand can?

In 2003 there was the following situation at the 100th Harley-Davidson Anniversary in Milwaukee. A world star was announced as a surprise guest at the event in Veterans Park. 200,000 bikers were expected to attend the event, there were rumors about who was coming, but they didn't want to believe it, the bikers were hoping for the Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen. The Stones were actually in Europe at the time, but that would have been a real surprise.

Surprise guest 2003! Then came Elton John!

Elton John. Elton John? He's not American, certainly not very manly and far from hard rock. John's last rock song came at a time when Harley-Davidson was still owned by AMF, that was the feedback in the wake of Elton at Harley-Davidson's 100th Anniversary. Boos and thousands of bikers left Veterans Park early in 2003. So much for that!

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The Harley-Davidson US community is rebelling!

The recent „woke“ scandal at Harley-Davidson has caused quite a stir in the US, especially among conservative circles and some bikers. The term „woke“ is used here to describe the perception that Harley-Davidson is overly committed to social justice, diversity, equality and LGBTQ+ rights.

The controversy was sparked by a series of actions and events, including support for LGBTQ+ initiatives and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs within the company. This has led to criticism from some quarters who feel that Harley-Davidson has strayed too far from its traditional „rebellious“ and „patriotic“ brand.

The accusation of being „woke“ led to a call for a boycott led by conservative activists such as Robby Starbuck. Especially at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, one of the largest and most traditional motorcycle rallies in the USA, this issue was on everyone's lips, and many bikers expressed their disappointment at the company's change of direction.

Hardly any visitors at the Harley-Davidson stand during the Sturgis Rally 2024.

This controversy reflects the broader social conflict in the US, where companies are increasingly being drawn into cultural and political debates. The reaction to Harley-Davidson's suspected involvement in these issues shows how deeply divided opinion is in society about such initiatives.

In the USA, a real scandal has literally erupted, which will now give the German Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz a real hard time. Fox News and similar conservative news outlets have also reported on the scandal, often from a critical perspective of Harley-Davidson's „woke“ measures, USA Today, Sky News, Insane Throttle, Sean Strickland MMA fighters, Robby Starbuck and many other media, celebrities and influencers took part.

The toughest contribution certainly comes from „Columbia War Machine“, They blew up a Harley-Davidson straight away.

Columbia War Machine - Harley-Davidson Went Woke! So I Destroyed My Bike!!!

Elon Musk comments on the topic on his platform X!

Elon Musk and Donald Trump are known not to be particularly convinced by this development. Harley-Davidson is an American icon - a Harley-Davidson should be produced in the USA and not, for example, in Thailand. Until now, it was always said that Harleys for the American market would only be manufactured in the USA. There are currently unconfirmed plans to relocate further parts of production to Thailand, which would affect the factory Powertrain Operations in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

FOX NEWS - Is Harley-Davidson going ‚woke‘?

The Harley-Davidson community in the USA is upside down!

It's hard to imagine what's really going on in the USA on this subject. They portray Jochen Zeitz as a Marxist, especially after the speech he gave in the forum „humaneizing globalization„ has held. Note the color reduction of the lettering in the following video, at minute 4:40. In the end, it was too much of a good thing for some bikers.

However, the latest statement from Harley-Davidson has provided clarity for the future, whether the change of heart was achieved through pressure from the community or was actually a trend-setting business decision, we can probably only guess.

EXPOSED: Marxist Harley Davidson CEO Admits He HATES Capitalism | Customers RAGE in BOYCOTT

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The Harley-Davidson Menomonee Falls plant

The Powertrain Operations Plant” in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, is one of Harley-Davidson's main production facilities and focuses on the manufacture of engine and transmission components. There are indications that Harley-Davidson wants to move the production of Revolution Max engines to Thailand. I visited the plant last year, and at the time they were already packing parts that would eventually be assembled in Thailand. Last year, the employees on site already suspected, behind closed doors, that there could be noticeable changes at some point.

The decision is also seen in the context of Harley-Davidson's efforts to expand production of its LiveWire electric motorcycles in the US, potentially freeing up capacity previously used for the Revolution Max drive units. It should be borne in mind that a different skill set may be required for electrical engineering.

You can feel the emotions of the employees in the engine plant

In summary, the relocation of production from Menomonee Falls to Thailand has led to considerable tension and uncertainty, both within the company and among the wider public and trade unions. Anyone who has ever been to this engine plant will inevitably feel the spirit of the brand, which is also transmitted by the employees. They don't wear normal work clothes there, here they wear Harley-Davidson T-shirts, not all of them, but most of them wear their shirts.

The crucial difference is that the Harley-Davidson models for the American market are to be manufactured and assembled exclusively in the USA. How the models with the Revolution Max engines will fare is the big question, which has further fueled the current situation.

In any case, various things have now come together and the influencer Robby Starbuck was certainly a major trigger. Now that Harley-Davidson has officially published its latest statement on X, it remains to be seen whether this is really enough for the Harley-Davidson US community.

The Harley-Davidson share is unimpressed by the Woke scandal and stable

Harley-Davidson's share price has so far been unaffected by the scandal. The scandal is seen as having little impact on the core customer base, which remains loyal and less sensitive to such controversies. This confidence in the long-term value and market position of Harley-Davidson has so far helped to keep the share price surprisingly stable.

Since the beginning of the year, the share price has fallen by around 6.7 % and is currently around 23 % below its 52-week high of March 2024. The share has been weighed down by various factors, including weaker sales figures and challenges in the global market environment. However, despite these declines, the company remains financially stable and has continued to invest in share buybacks to support the share price. Analysts nevertheless see long-term challenges in the market, but minor turbulence is not particularly unusual for the share.

Let's hope that this play will soon be over and the company can concentrate on the real problems.

My contribution to the topic on YouTube

Text: Harleysite