I am a little behind the curve and late to the party on the brouhaha happening over Harley-Davidson. It seems their chairman, president and CEO since 2020, a fellow named Jochen Zeitz, is a fervent DEI enthusiast. Many of his initiatives at the company have only recently come to light through the efforts of Robby Starbuck.
...Conservative activist Robby Starbuck posted a 10-minute video on July 23 arguing the company "has gone woke."
In the social media post, he said the company has supported LGBTQ+ initiatives and that employees attend training on how to be an ally to LGBTQ+ members.
The chairman, president and CEO of Harley-Davidson, Jochen Zeitz, has been an active advocate for sustainability for a long time. Before becoming the CEO of Harley-Davidson, Zeitz worked at Puma and luxury goods company Kering. Zeitz currently serves as the chairman for LiveWire Inc., which is the electric vehicle division of Harley-Davidson. He also founded his own organization, the Zeitz Foundation, to support sustainable solutions that balance conservation, community, and culture and commerce.
Zeitz has only helmed the ship at Harley-Davidson since 2020, but he made sure to sign the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge. Harley-Davidson has yet to respond to the controversy.
News to me, and kind of surprising as I would never put Woke and Harley together, but hello. When you have a European at the helm of an iconic and beloved American brand, stranger things have happened.
And this Zeitz fellow - a German, no less - has all the earmarks of a true Euro-cultist-believer based on information that is now becoming available thanks to Starbuck's shining a light on him.
Harley-Davidson's CEO Jochen Zeitz is under pressure to step down this week after footage emerged of him calling himself the 'Taliban of sustainability' in a series of statements at odds with the beloved motorcycle brand.
In rediscovered video clips, the German is seen complaining about the firm's weak environmental record before he joined its board and set about trying to 'redefine' the brand despite 'skepticism' from colleagues.
The footage has added to concerns among angry bikers, who are turning their backs on Harley-Davidson over Zeitz's support for critical race theory, climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
Yeah. There's a disconnect there.
The brand that was famous for hot chicks in tight leather and gnarly bearded guys on hogs with big, throaty roars has a fanatic, devoted clientele not into *checks note* "critical race theory." They get on their bikes to ride off into the sunset away from that phoniness and workplace strictures. Riders certainly don't want their throbbing, pulsing, hideously expensive symbol of all things American male tainted with the stench of social justice programs.
Is that guy crazy? Or just a moron of Teutonic proportion?
TRUST WHY THE HARLEY-DAVIDSON TRANSFORMATION IS FOR REALS
Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz is asked why people should trust that @harleydavidson’s "transformation" to left wing values "is for real" and "not just a PR stunt"?
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 26, 2024
He begins his argument for making Harley a climate activist company by saying he doesn’t want to say "follow the… pic.twitter.com/lTYJdFM3a6
What a bizarre conversation. This sort of thing doesn't help. Zeitz even pulls out "the greater good" trope.
No, thank you, man.
The boycott must already be drawing blood, because Harley leadership sent around a memo to employees stating that that were going to "review" that their "stakeholder and outreach activities" are "aligned to their role as an employer and business today."
Panicked corporate argle-bargle for "we might need to change something STAT before we lose our asterisks."
I’ve just obtained a VERY interesting email that was sent by @harleydavidson to employees today about our stories exposing them for going woke.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 8, 2024
Harley says they’ve begun an evaluation of "policies, strategies and activities to ensure they’re relevant to our business."
"The… pic.twitter.com/2jgkQcRhf6
I'm not sure it's going to be in time to save dealers, maybe even the company, though, judging from what I'm seeing. The Sturgis rally is going on this week, and the Harley tent looks like a ghost town.
And Harley riders really aren't feeling Herr Zeitz or buying his climate cult driven "transformation," which includes having the brand completely electric by 2030.
Yeah.
I've heard of Electra Glide in Blue
But the idea of ELECTRIC HARLEYS is not to be born.
...'Harley is all about the sound and the smell of the Harley-Davidson,' Zeitz said.
'So I became the Taliban, again, in a sustainable way.'
Zeitz, who previously led luxury brand Kering and Puma, described creating a 'sustainability committee' to change the firm.
...It 'went about redefining the HD brand and try to translate sustainability to something that would truly be embraced by the HOG owner,' he said.
There's nothing unusual about executives trying to make their products greener, but Zeitz's comments heighten concerns that his leadership is at odds with his customers' values.
Harley-Davidson owners have posted on social media that they will no longer ride their motorcycles, with many switching for Indian Motorcycle, another long-standing all-American brand.
Indian dealers have to be licking their chops.
What is Zeitz thinking? I can't get over this.
And, if Harley-Davidson lovers weren't already in enough of an uproar over Zeitz's Taliban transformation, they are really going to lose their cookies over the news that broke this afternoon, which now has union members gunning for Zeitz, too.
The company is moving a buttload of US production to Thailand.
This guy has the Bud Light chick's touch, I tell you.
Harley-Davidson is moving more motorcycle production to Thailand, angering the union workforce in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
The change is also notable for the iconic American company, which some years ago vowed it would never build bikes overseas for the U.S. marketplace.
“Harley-Davidson has backtracked on that promise, planning to manufacture these bikes abroad and send them to the U.S. for American consumers," Brian Bryant, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said in a statement.
“Harley-Davidson’s announcement to ship our work and jobs to Thailand is a kick in the teeth to American workers and a betrayal of the company’s legacy as an American icon. In (2019), nearly 600 IAM members at Harley-Davidson and Syncreon in Kansas City lost their jobs when the company shuttered its facility, claiming that its Thailand plant would only serve the Asian and European markets," he added.
YOWSAHS
Poison that well, why don't you?
Made in Thailand and all-electric.
There's a thrill.
If there's still a Harley-Davidson by 2030, I don't see them making commercials for the company like they used to.
Won't be any tall tales on the porch about those scooters - no, sir.
Woke ruins everything.
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