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Woke Company Report

Walmart – Woke Company Report

D83/100 higher is better · Capped at 83 by a serious finding
Originally published October 20, 2026
Walmart Neighborhood Market store front with a Now Open banner and a roadside Walmart sign
Photo: Walmart Neighborhood Market. Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons.

Full report

Walmart is graded D because of one MAJOR item: in a Sept 3, 2019 memo to associates posted on Walmart's corporate site, the CEO encouraged 'our nation's leaders' to 'strengthen background checks,' said reauthorization of the assault-weapons ban 'should be debated,' and said he was sending letters to the White House and congressional leadership calling for action. Active advocacy for gun-control laws is a MAJOR item under our rules. Without the cap, its score would be 93, a B.

A serious (MAJOR) finding caps the score at 83, a D. Without the cap, Walmart would score 93 (100 minus its 7 points). See How We Rate.

Points deducted by category

  1. DEI hiring, pay & suppliers: 0/15 points deducted
  2. Internal policies & benefits: 0/10 points deducted
  3. Free speech, debanking, deplatforming & anti-military/anti-American conduct: 0/15 points deducted
  4. Political giving (PAC, treasury, leadership): 2/10 points deducted
    • Walmart suspended political contributions to the members of Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 Electoral College results (January 2021). (source)
  5. Advocacy, lobbying & public statements: 3/15 points deducted
    • Then-CEO Doug McMillon's memo to associates (Sept 3, 2019, corporate.walmart.com): "we encourage our nation's leaders to move forward and strengthen background checks and to remove weapons from those who have been determined to pose an imminent danger. We do not sell military-style rifles, and we believe the reauthorization of the Assault Weapons ban should be debated to determine its effectiveness." "Today, I'm sending letters to the White House and the Congressional leadership that call for action on these common sense measures." (source)
  6. Marketing, products & content: 2/10 points deducted
    • "A Walmart spokesperson told BI that roughly the same number of stores are carrying Pride merchandise this year" (Business Insider, June 2025). Most recent season's Pride line. (source)
  7. Charitable & activist funding: 1.5/10 points deducted
    • $100M Center for Racial Equity (2020). (source)
    • Reversal: Wound down the Center for Racial Equity. (source)
    • The Walmart Foundation is a limited partner in Working Capital Fund alongside Open Society Foundations (Soros) (co-investor tie). (source)
  8. ESG, activist investing & industry/regional boycotts: 0/10 points deducted
  9. China & foreign-adversary ties: 0/5 points deducted
  10. Election & voting-law activism: 0/10 points deducted
  11. Border & immigration enforcement: 0/10 points deducted
  12. Faith, family & children: 0/10 points deducted
  13. Climate & anti-fossil-fuel advocacy: 0/10 points deducted
  14. Second Amendment & lawful-firearms commerce: 4/10 points deducted
    • Since 2019, does not sell handguns or ammunition usable in large-capacity "military-style" magazines beyond the firearms it carries (lawful-product restriction; still in place). (source)
  15. Government-coordinated content moderation: 0/10 points deducted
  16. Abortion advocacy, benefits & funding: 0/10 points deducted
  17. American Workers & H-1B Displacement: 0/10 points deducted

Final verdict: Grade D

Grades run A (best) to F (worst) on a 0–100 scale, where a higher score is better: every company starts at 100 and loses points for each finding. Every finding links to its source. See how we rate for the scale and the category caps.