NLPC in Wall St. Journal: Brands Face Growing Pressure from Activist Shareholders

In an article published today, the Wall Street Journal reports on increasing shareholder activism that pushes back against Corporate America’s embrace of a pro-LGBTQ political agenda, which includes advocacy for the promotion of sexually explicit books in schools and libraries, and targeting children and minors for transgender ideology and related “affirming” psychological and medical treatments.

The story highlights the growing effectiveness of right-leaning groups in the shareholder proposal process, in which sponsors speak at corporate annual meetings in support of their measures. The Journal particularly notes NLPC’s resolution for Mondelez International, parent company of Nabisco and maker of Oreo, in which we pointed out the potential dangers of the company wading in to divisive or controversial social issues.

From the article:

Target, Mondelez and Dell are among companies expected to hold votes on such shareholder proposals soon, while others have already done so this year…

 

Mondelez is set to hold a vote this month on a proposal from the National Legal and Policy Center, or NLPC, a conservative organization that describes its mission as promoting ethics in public life, asking the snack-food company to evaluate the risks and consequences of its associations with “external organizations.”

 

The proposal focuses on marketing campaigns tying the Mondelez cookie brand Oreo to LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG and lists positions from that organization that it considers “militant,” including opposition to laws that would prohibit medical treatments for transgender individuals under the age of 18…

 

NLPC ramped up its focus on shareholder proposals in late 2021, filing roughly two dozen annually in response to what it considered left-wing activity in the corporate world, said Paul Chesser, director of NLPC’s Corporate Integrity Project. The Bud Light boycott was the “crowning blow” of a broader reaction against such corporate activities, he added.

 

“We said to Mondelez, look, you know, it’s only by good fortune that you’re not Bud Light,” Chesser said.

NLPC’s proposal for Mondelez urges the company to examine all associations with outside organizations — not just those that address LGBTQ agenda items — such as those that promote anti-semitism. We filed a proxy memo with the Securities and Exchange Commission in April that further explained our position regarding the proposal, identifying other groups such as Black Lives Matter and World Economic Forum as other associations that could present reputational and financial risk for shareholders of Mondelez.

Three months ago NLPC produced a video regarding Oreo’s ill-advised formal partnership with PFLAG, which went viral on social media. We have a special web page on our site that fully explains our rationale for criticizing the joint effort here. Watch the video embedded below.