Sadiq Khan’s Transport for London has blocked Accenture from working on its advertising campaigns due to the consulting giant scrapping its DEI policies, saying the company “no longer meets” its diversity criteria. The Telegraph has more.
The local government body, which is controlled by Sadiq Khan, said it had vetoed Accenture’s bid to work on a TfL marketing campaign, saying the consultancy’s new stance on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) clashed with its own approach.
It comes after Accenture, which is one of the biggest consulting firms in the world, said in February it would be “sunsetting” the diversity policies it first set out in 2017 in response to Donald Trump’s war on “woke”.
A TfL spokesman said: “We were unable to continue with [Accenture’s] bid for our creative tender contract as it no longer met the criteria for diversity that we expect from all suppliers.
“We are proud to hold our suppliers to account, making sure they are aligned with our commitments on diversity and inclusivity to help expand opportunities across our supply chain and create equal opportunities for all.”
The decision means Accenture and its creative agency Droga5 are blocked from bidding for work on TfL’s planned £50 million overhaul of its marketing strategy, which are part of Mr Khan’s wider attempts to boost public transport use.
Accenture dropped its diversity policies this year after the US President banned companies with federal contracts from operating “illegal” DEI programmes. The consultant, which is the world’s biggest by revenue, is one of the US Government’s federal contractors and won a five-year IT contract last year from the US Air Force worth $1.6 billion (£1.3 billion).
Last month, Accenture said cost-cutting initiatives led by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were already negatively affecting its US sales and revenues.
Shares in the company have lost more than 17% of their value since Mr Trump’s inauguration on January 20th.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.