Pernod Ricard

Absolut, Jameson, Malibu, Kahlua
France
Food Beverage and Tobacco

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Rating - Caution
Medium Risk

Pernod Ricard is a beverage company headquartered in Paris, France. The company owns brands such as Absolut, Jameson, Malibu, and others. Pernod Ricard vets vendors according to LGBTQ policies and is part of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, but has not publicly terminated business relationships based on views or beliefs. The company covers the cost of "medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children. Pernod Ricard is leading an initiative between companies and advertisers and social media companies to enable consumers to report online content as "hate speech" for greater action from social media companies. Pernod Ricard and its subsidiaries have donated to ideological groups hostile to freedom of expression, including the ADL, GLAAD, and the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. However, it does provide its employees with protections against viewpoint discrimination. For these reasons, Pernod Ricard receives a Medium 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

Pernod Ricard received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign (1). Among other requirements, this means Pernod Ricard pledges to vet its vendors for LGBTQ policies. 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” (2)(3)(4). However, it has not publicly terminated business relationships due to ideological differences. In 2020, Pernod Ricard announced that it would develop an app through which consumers can report “hate speech” and “misinformation” online directly to brands to enable great censorship on social media (5)(6).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Pernod Ricard does not discriminate against religious organizations in its charitable giving.

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Pernod Ricard prohibits discrimination based on political opinion (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Pernod Ricard has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index. This score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (1)(2). Its brand Absolut produced and released a documentary about a Canadian drag queen (3). In 2020, Pernod Ricard announced that it would develop an app through which consumers can report “hate speech” and “misinformation” online directly to brands to enable great censorship on social media (4)(5).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

Pernod Ricard is a member of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (1)(2)(3). Pernod-Ricard covers abortion-related travel and lodging expenses for employees (4). The company has donated to and partnered with the Anti-Defamation League, the National Urban League, and GLAAD (5). Absolut is a corporate partner of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (6).

Criteria

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

Risk Level
Rationale

The Pernod Ricard USA PAC has donated in a manner accordant with business interests (1). It has not donated to ideological groups.

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
September 20, 2023

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