Mondelez International

Nabisco, Cadbury, Oreo, BelVita, Chips Ahoy, Halls, Honey Maid, Ritz, Philadelphia, Sour Patch Kids, Toblerone, Trident, Triscuit, Wheat Thins, CLIF Bar, Green Mountain Coffee Company
Illinois
Food Beverage and Tobacco

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Rating - Danger
High Risk

Mondelez scored a 95 on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index (CEI). By complying with the HRC’s controversial demands, Mondelez, the parent company of Nabisco, Cadbury, Oreo, and other food brands, increases the risk of dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders. The company covers transgender-related medical costs for its employees and their children and provides specific sexual orientation and gender identity-based benefits. It also uses sex and gender ideology criteria in employee recruitment, vendor selection, marketing, and philanthropic support. Mondelez forces employees to undergo multiple ideological trainings and uses its reputation, corporate funds, and political influence to support controversial sex and gender ideologies, organizations, and legislation. Mondelez is part of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media that targets "hate speech" and does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees. The company made a $500,000 donation to the Black Lives Matter Global Network and the NAACP. Oreo made a $500,000 donation to PFLAG, prompting a shareholder proposal calling for Mondelez to analyze the risk of associating with ideological organizations. The company opposed various state and local legislation intended to protect parental rights, girls’ sports, bathroom facilities, and gendered spaces. Mondelez denounced various states’ legislative efforts to protect election integrity and security. The company is a member of the MCCA, indicating its focus on recruiting, retaining, and promoting employees based on race. For these reasons, Mondelez receives a High Risk rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

Mondelez received a score of 95 on the 2023 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group. The company recruits employees based on sexual identity issues. The company discriminates against vendors that do not promote divisive sex and gender policies, indicating it prioritizes sexual issues over merit (1)(2). The company is a member of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which aims to demonetize advertisements and suppress content that “vilifies” individuals based on sexual orientation and gender identity, discusses “debated social issues in a negative or partisan context” or spreads “hate speech” (3)(4)(5). However, it has not publicly fired customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs.

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

Mondelez’s HRC CEI rating indicates the company will not donate to non-religious charities unless they embrace controversial sexual identity policies  (1)(2). Mondelez does not appear to discriminate against religious organizations in its charitable giving (3)(4)(5).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

Mondelez’s HRC 2023 CEI rating indicates the company forces employees to attend multiple, controversial trainings on gender identity, sexual orientation, transgender issues, and divisive racial ideology. The company provides and a specific benefits guide with a comprehensive explanation of transgender services funded by the company (1)(2). Mondelez International does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Mondelez’s HRC 2023 CEI rating indicates the company agrees to allow a controversial stakeholder group focused on sexual identity issues to dictate marketing or advertising strategy (1)(2). By doing so, the company risks dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders. Mondelez International signed on open letter in support of the Equality Act (3). Mondelez was part of the Freedom for All Americans coalition, which advocated for federal legislation that would overrule state laws designed to protect girls’ sports and similar laws (4). The company also denounced various state efforts to protect election integrity (5). Further, Mondelez International’s company Oreo published an extensive commercial in 2020 featuring the story of a same-sex couple and has advocated for transgender ideology (6)(7). Mondelez International opposed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, which would prohibit teaching gender identity and sexual orientation to kids in K-3rd grade (8). Oreo co-sponsored PFLAG’s 2023 National Convention in Washington, DC, which was themed “Learning with Love”. The convention opposed “education advocates” who have banned thousands of books from children’s libraries, most of which are sexually explicit (9). Mondelez opposed various state and local legislation intended to protect parental rights, girls’ sports, bathroom facilities, and gendered spaces (10). The company denounced various states’ legislative efforts to protect election integrity and security (11).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Mondelez’s HRC 2023 CEI rating indicates the company covers transgender related costs for its employees and their children, including paid short-term leave, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, chest surgeries, genital surgeries, medical visits and lab monitoring, travel and lodging. Additionally, the company has pledged philanthropic support of at least one organization or event that promotes sex and gender ideology (1)(2). By allowing a political stakeholder group to dictate operations, the company increases health care costs and risks dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders. Mondelez is a member of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (3)(4)(5). The company donated $500,000 to Black Lives Matter Global Network and the NAACP, prompting shareholders to request a racial equity audit (6)(7)(8)(9). Mondelez brand, Oreo, donated $500,000 to PFLAG, an LGBTQ advocacy organization (10). This donation prompted a shareholder proposal by The National Legal and Policy Center calling on Mondelez to examine the risks of Oreo’s associations with ideological groups like PFLAG. The proposal calls for Mondelez to release a public report by March 2025 (11). Oreo urges consumers to support the LGBTQ activist group PFLAG through a hyperlink on its Pride webpage. As part of a fundraiser for PFLAG, Nabisco created limited edition rainbow Oreo Cookies, hosting a donation pass-through to PFLAG from its website. Oreo also co-sponsored PFLAG’s 2023 National Convention (12). Mondelez is a copper sponsor of Out & Equal and a corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (13)(14). The company is a member of the MCCA, indicating its focus on recruiting, retaining, and promoting employees based on race (15)(16).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
Rationale

Mondelez’s HRC 2023 CEI rating indicates the company publicly advocated for controversial sex and gender ideology through local, state or federal legislation or initiatives (1)(2). By allowing a political stakeholder group to dictate operations, the company risks dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders. Mondelez has not used its political contributions for ideological purposes (3)(4)(5).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
March 27, 2024

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

Voting History

Date
ESG Category
Proponent
Summary of ResolutionMgmt RecTotal Vote % in Favor
5/17/23GovernanceNational Legal and Policy CenterRequire Independent Chair of the BoardAgainst25.40%
5/17/23SocialTulipshare LtdAdopt Public Targets to Eradicate Child Labor in Cocoa Supply ChainAgainst20.20%
5/17/23EnvironmentalGreen Century Capital Management, Inc.Publish Annual Benchmarks for Achieving Company’s 2025 Cage-Free Egg GoalAgainst9.10%
5/18/22SocialSHARE (Sharehldr Assoc for Research & EducOversee and Report on a Racial Equity AuditAgainst48.63%
5/18/22GovernanceNational Legal and Policy CenterRequire Independent Board ChairAgainst25.80%

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