Harley-Davidson is facing biker backlash over fears that the American motorcycle manufacturer born with the renegade image is now identifying as woke.
"@harleydavidson
has been one of the most beloved brands in America but recently on CEO
Jochen Zeitz’s watch, they’ve gone totally woke," filmmaker Robby
Starbuck shared with his more than 528,000 followers on X in late July.
The
bike brand's apparent decision to volunteer for the culture wars in
America has been a high-octane topic at the 84th annual Sturgis
Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota this week, according to both attendees
and numerous social media postings.
"It’s branding suicide," Vinny Terranova, the owner of Pappy’s Vintage Cycles in Sturgis, South Dakota, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
"A lot of bikers are switching over to Indian," he said. "They killed Harley. It breaks my heart."
People
walk along Main Street lined with American flags on Aug. 6, 2020, a day
before the start of that year's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)
The situation has drawn comparisons to the Bud Light "unforced error" of 2023 in the wake of the beer brand's decision to partner with Dylan Mulvaney, a social media influencer and trans activist.
Joe
Six Packs launched an organic nationwide boycott against America's then
most-popular beer brand in response. Bud Light has not recovered.
‘Not a good look’
Harley
riders have been concerned about the direction of the company since the
German-born Zeitz took over as CEO at the height of the COVID pandemic in May 2020, say motorcycle enthusiasts.
"A vintage Harley valued at $30,000 just a few years ago is now getting only $4,000."
Harley-Davidson
motorcycles have faced a sharp decline in perceived value among bikers
since his arrival, said Terranova, who ran a Harley-Davidson dealership
in Colorado for over 40 years.
"A vintage Harley valued at $30,000 just a few years ago is now getting only $4,000," said Terranova.
"People don’t even want to be associated with Harley anymore," he added, expressing his opinion.
Bikers
stop to take in Mt. Rushmore on the way to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
in South Dakota. The rally annually attracts more than 500,000 people
during its 10-day run. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to Harley-Davidson for comment but did not receive a reply by publication time.
When filmmaker Starbuck shared on social media what he claims are Harley-Davidson's woke wishlist of internal policies, discontent turned to outrage for many.
Among
the wishlist items as noted by Starbuck: sending White men to White
male-only diversity training; supporting legislation that "would allow
men into girls' bathrooms, sports and locker rooms"; and "an all-ages
pride event that featured a ‘rage room’ next to ‘draq queen story
time.'"
"Most
people feel like they're having sexually explicit topics forced upon
them at the workplace which, 10 years ago, anybody would have seen as
sexual harassment," Starbuck, director of the film "The War on
Children," told Fox News Digital by phone.
The
company's alleged DEI focus today contrasts sharply with the loud,
muscular, freedom-loving image that has appealed to core customers for
decades.
A red, white and blue Harley-Davidson motorcycle gas tank is seen in Chicago, Illinois. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Harley riders responded with full-throttle upset on social media and, it appears, at Sturgis.
"@Harleydavidson has turned to sh*te ... Buy something else," was among the comments posted on social media.
"I
heard [Harley-Davidson] Sturgis HQ is gonna be like Bud Light tent was
last year," a biker posted on X last week, before the start of the 2024
rally on August 2.
One video posted on social media on Monday
showed only green grass and a few stragglers mingling outside a
Harley-Davidson tent in Sturgis.
"Not a good look!" wrote Starbuck on his X account.
Filmmaker Robby Starbuck is shown in Nashville, Tennessee in 2021. (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
"I guess some bikers just don’t want to be associated with them after finding out that Harley went woke."
Some
long-time Harley riders are saying on social media that they're
ditching their bikes for new brands with their next purchase; others are
removing the Harley-Davidson name from their motorcycles.
Attendance
declined dramatically last week at the annual Harley-Davidson
Homecoming Festival in Milwaukee, where the motorcycle maker was founded
in 1903.
Attendance declined dramatically last week
at the annual Harley-Davidson Homecoming Festival in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, where the motorcycle maker was founded in 1903.
About
60,000 people attended the event, according to the Milwaukee
Sentinel-Journal — that's a 25% drop from the 80,000 who took in the
festival last year.
"We changed our plans for the H-D homecoming
after hearing how @harleydavidson supports pedophiles and grooms
children," wrote one Harley rider, @LittleLuLu13131.
General views of the Harley-Davidson Museum on Aug. 29, 2021, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
The outcry over Harley's apparent woke turn comes on the heels of noticeable changes in the public face of the brand.
Harley
last year ditched its globally iconic logo of orange and white
lettering on a black shield. Its new logo is an empty metallic shell –
the same shape, but different colors and no words.
"The
old logo undeniably conveyed a sense of heritage, a connection to the
brand's storied past," British graphic design firm LMRT reported in its
online analysis.
"Yet, the new logo seems to symbolize a
departure from convention, a leap toward modernity, and an invitation to
re-imagine the essence of Harley-Davidson."
The
Harley-Davidson Museum, shown at left, opened in Milwaukee in 2008. At
right, a scene from the celebrated 1969 movie, "Easy Rider," which
helped cement Harley-Davidson's iconic affiliation with the American
open road. (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images; Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
Harley-Davidson was founded in Milwaukee in 1903
by William Harley and partners and brothers Arthur, Walter and William
Davidson. Harley and the Davidson boys grew up as neighbors and friends.
Harley and Arthur Davidson were both bicycle enthusiasts and mechanics,
as Fox News Digital previously reported.
They began tinkering
with small internal combustion engines. They put motors on bicycles -
their first Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
Harley-Davidson, its own museum notes, sold just three motorcycles in 1905.
In 2023, it produced 163,000 bikes — making it one of the world's largest motorcycle companies.
Harley-Davidson,
Inc. is the parent company of Harley-Davidson Motor
Company and Harley-Davidson Financial Services. Its vision, according to
the company, is "building our legend and leading our industry through
innovation, evolution and emotion. Our mission: More than building
machines, we stand for the timeless pursuit of adventure. Freedom for
the soul."
Harley-Davidson
also has a controlling interest in LiveWire Group, Inc., the first
publicly traded all-electric motorcycle company in the United States,
the company notes.
CEO Zeitz at Harley signed the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion
pledge, as a number of outlets have also noted. Among other
initiatives, the pledge is to "cultivate environments that support open
dialogue on complex — and often difficult — conversations around
diversity, equity and inclusion" and "engage boards of directors when
developing and evaluating diversity, equity and inclusion strategies."