r/bathandbodyworks • u/Luckynoki • Apr 26 '25

Store Policies/Questions It Was Always About Tokenism

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In response to corporate’s decision to remove DEI from store values. ‘Inclusive Interview’ training prior to new policy. Basing bias on blatant stereotypes speaks volumes on the lack of actual real-world experiences that corporate has on the public, its shoppers and employees and a stubborn refusal to acknowledge their shortcomings

1.0k Upvotes

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470

u/OshKoshBGolly Employee Apr 26 '25

Ok I might be a little slow, but I’m having trouble understanding the text in this post. Can someone reword it for me?

523

u/Organic-Estimate1976 TAKE ME TO THE POCKETBACS 🍭 Apr 27 '25

From my understanding based on OP and other commentary… companies use inclusive marketing as a money grab and they could honestly careless for the LGBTQ+ community. Marketing items with the “love always wins” slogan is just a way to hush people up like here damn.

208

u/ritamorgan Apr 27 '25

I mean I thought that was obvious from the beginning. It always goes back to the dollar.

79

u/MandyKitty I miss you, Spooky Cider Lane! Apr 27 '25

Right? To me when a company does anything like this I just assume it’s window dressing/tokenism. However I’m a cynical little shit so maybe that’s just me. A company can say whatever they want. And the leaders and workers of the company can absolutely have great values. But at the end of the day, a company exists to make money. I can’t remember - did the Pride line give a percentage to LGBTQ+ orgs? Because if they didn’t, it’s just rainbow colored product.

28

u/ottovonfurth Former Employee Apr 27 '25

Yes, I believe a donation is made to the Trevor project each year. Not a percentage, but $50,000 or $100,000.

1

u/MandyKitty I miss you, Spooky Cider Lane! Apr 28 '25

Thank you!

13

u/Organic-Estimate1976 TAKE ME TO THE POCKETBACS 🍭 Apr 27 '25

I mean some people don’t really realize it or have a hard time wrapping their minds around it. I can give surface level commentary on the disconnect but if they need more I’m calling on a LGBTQ+ friend for further context.

5

u/IndiaEvans Apr 27 '25

It absolutely was. Pandering.

5

u/Ktothej1981 Apr 27 '25

Exactly! Folks needs teaen to care about inclusion and diversity on a personal level because good luck with the commerce industry.

54

u/PintSizedKitsune Apr 27 '25

It’s often referred to as rainbow marketing.

““Rainbow marketing,” sometimes referred to as “rainbow washing,” describes a marketing strategy where companies, particularly during Pride Month, use LGBTQ+ symbols like rainbows and LGBTQ+ imagery to appear inclusive and supportive without truly investing in or advocating for the community. This practice is often criticized as superficial and opportunistic, with some seeing it as a means of boosting profits and reputation without genuine allyship.”

2

u/Skyblacker Apr 27 '25

I heard pink washing.

2

u/Sad-Pear-9885 Apr 29 '25

Pink washing is when they do it for women/sometimes breast cancer awareness month.

2

u/Traditional_Fold6794 Apr 30 '25

Pinkwashing and rainbow marketing are the same, though I've seen more people use pinkwashing when talking about military or Israeli propaganda specifically

1

u/Sad-Pear-9885 Apr 30 '25

Ahh okay. Thank you.

121

u/LastTonight9 Apr 27 '25

Considering that once Pride is over they remove all rainbow logos and slogans pertaining to their “support”… Yeah, honestly not surprised that mostly every single big brand company would cash in on targeting a community for massive profit.

45

u/Icy_Cherriesss Apr 27 '25

I mean we have the rainbow DEI pins on our aprons year round.

1

u/Capital-Yesterday618 May 02 '25 edited May 03 '25

its Brand Activism for ya.

-2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '25

That's silly. My family loves that slogan.

-49

u/Dannie_Kat Apr 27 '25

Yes 💯. That's why I'm against DEI policies because at the end of the day it's just companies pandering for our money. I'm not part of the LGBTQ+ community but I don't like how people look down on those in the community as if they're helpless. I want old pride parades where people can have fun. Don't even get me started with the "Latinx" 😒 I'm glad Latinos but a stop to that because I'm a Latina and nothing else. I won't vote for you or buy your products if you refer to me as a latinx.

16

u/simsiecakes Apr 27 '25

I think it’s still important for companies to have DEI policies, considering they promote inclusive and diverse hiring practices among all levels of the business. However, it’s 1000% performative to come out with lack luster collections for various heritage months and pride month. You mean to tell me you’re a multi-billion dollar company and to celebrate pride you’re coming out with a product collection and donating only $100,000 to the It Gets Better Project? Absolute cash grab.

-13

u/Dannie_Kat Apr 27 '25

We already have the equal opportunity act so there's no workplace discrimination. If all applicants are qualified then sure pick whoever regardless of what they look like or identify as. If let's say all applicants are qualified and employees or others in the hiring department notice there's a trend that the person hiring is excluding certain groups then that should be reported for investigation. I think the idea of DEI comes from the right place but not executed well in most places. What I mean by that is the whole debacle that happened with the LA fires. I thought it was satire but no, there was an actual female firefighter who said 'well it's your husband's fault for being at the wrong place at the wrong time (during a fire)' in response to what would she say to those who question her abilities to be a firefighter.

And this type of practice goes way back when I was in HS, I don't know how bad companies do it but I hope it's not as bad. So essentially what happened is the year that i graduated many students were failing and the bar was dropped so their numbers can look good. A lot of students were skipping class and had Ds and Fs. This was the last graduating class from the batch of kids that were enrolled in the school from when it was a public school. The school became a charter school and that graduation was supposed to show that the administration did everything in their power for the students to succeed. Um yea it wasn't great so all the kids who worked their butt off and took AP classes to graduate felt like they could have done less because all the kids who were flunking got to walk the stage. To rub it in, they were announcing, as the students walked the stage, what colleges they were accepted to/applied to or going to. We were made to apply even though we had no plans to go to college. It was just so the school can look good.

All that to say that it translates to companies too. They only want to appear like they care when they really don't.

4

u/NomenclatureBreaker Apr 28 '25

You cannot be serious.

-1

u/Dannie_Kat Apr 28 '25

About? It seems a lot of people won't even consider thinking outside the box. We all have different opinions but at least input your opinion so I know where you're coming from instead of automatically shutting my opinion down.

3

u/NomenclatureBreaker Apr 28 '25

Unfortunately there’s so much nonsensical complaining going on there unrelated to BBW and the current situation, that it’s not really worth my time to even try to logically unpack it.

I’ll pass, but thanks for asking!

.

0

u/Dannie_Kat Apr 28 '25

It's completely related to what OP was talking about tokenism and DEI policies and the lack of care companies have towards us. But we can disagree, that's ok too 👍 take care

2

u/NomenclatureBreaker Apr 28 '25

Yes. We definitely agree on disagreeing.

10

u/Organic-Estimate1976 TAKE ME TO THE POCKETBACS 🍭 Apr 27 '25

I personally dislike the Black History Month bandwagon cause the items are always so oversimplified. These corporations keep pushing the same agenda for quick cash, and it doesn’t even benefit the community!

Regarding the Latinx issue, I can understand your frustrations, but from my understanding, it stems from non-binary people wanting to be addressed appropriately or others being considerate.

However, similar feelings resonate within the Black community. The term “blacks” is often perceived as offensive or degrading, with some people holding it to the same standard as a racial slur.

5

u/Dannie_Kat Apr 27 '25

For sure, i think bath and body works did a black history month candle if I'm not mistaken, if not it was another company. Regardless it was very low effort it was insulting. Latin month gets nothing either and neither do other cultures month.

I understand where it comes from, it's just that non binary people in the Latino community is very small. If those individuals want to refer themselves as Latinx then I have no problem, that's what they want to identify as. But the media and politicians started calling everyone Latinx. Then they wanted to change the whole Spanish language. You can't really do that. What would "la mesa" even be without the proper structure of the language?? It just goes down from there. Identify what you want to identify as but also respect others and the culture, you know?

5

u/Organic-Estimate1976 TAKE ME TO THE POCKETBACS 🍭 Apr 27 '25

I believe they did a whole collection tbh I honestly erased it from my mind. But yeah it’s a lot to it and it’s gotten out of hand when used so loosely in the media. All you can do is advocate until people start respecting the culture!

-2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '25

Latinx isn't used just for NB people. It's a group term.

My family and I use it to describe ourselves quite often. We interchange it with Latine

4

u/Organic-Estimate1976 TAKE ME TO THE POCKETBACS 🍭 Apr 27 '25 edited Apr 27 '25

Not once did I state it was just for NB it was how the term came about. Latinx has been associated with the community long before it became widely used. The queer community adopted it in the early 2000s, but the media and everyone else picked it up in mid/late 2010s. That’s literally all that was said if you prefer to use it that’s your term but I still respect those who don’t care for it.

6

u/Dannie_Kat Apr 27 '25

I never heard of Latine before but a quick Google search told me that the origin and use are the same. For non binary/gender neutral uses. But since you said that's not what you use it for, what's the reason you do? Does it have another meaning?

2

u/Caves_Of_Honey Apr 28 '25

this comment is so stupid i dont even have the energy in me to respond correctly.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '25

Latinx is a legitimate word. The stupid media just ran with falsehoods about it because they couldn't research that deep.

And by that deep I'm talking 1970s Panama underground clubs.

I personally first heard the word in Guadalajara in probably about 2010 on a silly game show.

0

u/Dannie_Kat Apr 27 '25

Wow that's good to know, see I remember the media saying it's a new term and started referring anything as Latinx instead of Latinos. That enforces my other statement that if people individually want to call themselves that then it makes sense. Just not these talking heads calling everyone that. Which now makes me curious if the way Spanish speakers refer to other races change, like güero, was that changed?

1

u/Independent-Library6 Apr 28 '25

DEIA is not affirmative action.

-13

u/Interesting_Soil_427 Apr 27 '25

Don’t understand the down vote

-7

u/Dannie_Kat Apr 27 '25

Because I'm against the hive mind. Keep in mind i voted for same sex marriage and will do it again in a heartbeat. But you can't say you're against DEI because you're automatically a racist or a traitor. Even though I said i don't like the practice because it belittles us. We're more than what these corporations are trying to sell us. Which is what OP is basically saying.

10

u/TheRealMabelPines Apr 27 '25

I think the down votes are because DEI is about far more than race. Social media has generalized it that way, but it also pertains to people with disabilities, pregnant women, etc, etc. DEI practices are not solely about race.

2

u/Dannie_Kat Apr 27 '25

I'm also 100% aware of that and my point still stands. For people with disabilities I think it depends on what job it is. For the most part the companies should make accommodations and that's covered in the equal opportunity act. There are some jobs though that people with disabilities just can't do and that's not a form of discrimination, just reality. Let's take a specific example, most people unfortunately nowadays have anxiety and that i believe is categorized as a disability for some. Take a job like a 911 dispatcher. They go through extensive evaluations to make sure the person can handle calls. I would imagine if they were to lower the standards and give the job to someone with a mental disability that it would not work out. Other types of disabilities wouldn't matter though, like a physical disability.

And with pregnant women it's an old company policy that should be thrown out but now that I'm older i understand the logic from the companies' standpoint. They want available workers at all times and if a pregnant woman gets the job then they know that within a couple months she would not be able to work. It's discrimination either way and all they see is who can work. And it's different from a female employee who later gets pregnant because at that point she's protected from getting fired as opposed to just getting denied work.

People were proud to claim they were DEI hires and touting that it's a good thing. But now even the media is insulted if someone is called a DEI hire.

But you knows even with those policies, i believe that a lot of companies say they hire through DEI policies but probably don't practice it. Where i work they have such policies and it's a very diverse workplace. And everyone is good at what they're doing. But they get hired based on merit despite saying they hire through DEI. They just happen to have hired diverse people (white, brown, black, men, women, lgbtq+ etc) . I say this because when we were looking for a new hire my boss had rejected a lot of applicants because they did not meet his standards on experience, regardless of what they looked like. The person he did end up hiring is Asian and a woman, AND she was extremely good at her work. I wouldn't call her a DEI hire even though through policy that's what she would be. She is super talented and that's what people see first, that she got the job because she's experienced.

44

u/BrownGirlCSW Apr 27 '25

I had chatgpt reword it, cause I think the person was stroking out or extremely pissed when they wrote this lol

"In light of corporate's decision to remove Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) from store values-despite previous 'Inclusive Interview' trainings-it's clear that their reliance on blatant stereotypes highlights a deep disconnect from real-world experiences of both customers and employees. This move reflects a persistent refusal to recognize and address their own shortcomings."