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Ford boycott threat over gay ads

vergiss

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Ford boycott threat over gay ads
From correspondents in Chicago

An influential US conservative Christian group has threatened to boycott Ford vehicles after the auto giant said it would resume advertising in gay publications.

The American Family Association, which claims more than three million supporters, said Ford had reneged on a deal to pull ads from the gay media.

"We had an agreement with Ford, worked out in good faith. Unfortunately, some Ford Motor Company officials made the decision to violate the good-faith agreement," AFA chairman Donald Wildmon said.

"We are now considering our response to the violation and expect to reach a decision very soon," the veteran Methodist minister said, adding "the option of a boycott is now very much alive".

The controversy has placed Ford in the midst of America's "culture war", caught between the powerful Christian right and the vocal gay lobby.

The AFA called for a boycott of Ford this year because of the company's "support for the homosexual agenda and homosexual marriage," but claimed a victory on December 1, saying "our concerns are being addressed."

Rumours of a "secret deal" between Ford and the AFA sparked an outcry from rights groups, prompting Ford to state on Wednesday that it would continue advertising in the gay press.

"It is clear there is a misperception about our intent," Ford said in a letter to seven rights group.

"As a result we have decided to run corporate ads in these targeted publications that will include not only Jaguar/Land Rover but all eight of Ford's vehicle brands."

Ford denied that any deal had been made and insisted that the decision to cease advertising its Jaguar and Land Rover brands in gay publications was part of a broad restructuring of advertising budgets at the luxury marques.

It also noted that its Volvo brand would continue to advertise in the gay press. But a number of rights organisations asked Ford to reaffirm its commitment to gay rights.

Company chairman Bill Ford did that on Monday with a statement that said the company values all people regardless of their racial, religious or sexual identity.

On Wednesday, Ford extended that commitment by stating it would continue to support non-profit groups and events in the gay and lesbian community.

However, Mr Wildmon insisted that AFA and Ford officials had hammered out an agreement that prompted the Christian group to call off its earlier boycott threat.

"All we wanted was for Ford to refrain from choosing sides in the cultural war, and supporting groups which promote same-sex marriage is not remaining neutral," he said.

The AFA, which Mr Wildmon founded in 1977 as the National Federation for Decency, recently made headlines by forcing US retailers to hang "Merry Christmas" signs instead of secular "Happy Holiday" messages.

It has claimed credit for successful boycotts of several national advertisers including Burger King and household products giant Clorox because they were "leading sponsors of TV sex, violence and profanity".

Ford did not immediately comment on the threat by the AFA.

The Human Rights Campaign, one of the gay and lesbian rights groups which received the letter from Ford, shrugged off the threat.

"We're not commenting on that. It's time to move on," Jay Smith Brown, communications director for HRC, said.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, 27 rights groups praised Ford's U-turn on gay ads as "an unequivocal reaffirmation of Ford's historic commitment to our community and the core American values of fairness and equality".

(from: http://theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17586080%5E1702,00.html)

ARGH! What the hell is with "All we wanted was for Ford to refrain from choosing sides in the cultural war, and supporting groups which promote same-sex marriage is not remaining neutral"? That is bullcrap. So bullying them into chosing your side is making them neutral, eh?

What nasty, manipulative and un-Christian people.
 
vergiss said:
(from: http://theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17586080%5E1702,00.html)

ARGH! What the hell is with "All we wanted was for Ford to refrain from choosing sides in the cultural war, and supporting groups which promote same-sex marriage is not remaining neutral"? That is bullcrap. So bullying them into chosing your side is making them neutral, eh?

What nasty, manipulative and un-Christian people.

I agree. It's not like the gay community is calling for Ford to stop advertising in Christian publications. The intolerance here is clearly one sided, and I'm proud of Ford for not honoring such a despicable deal.
 
Mikkel said:
I agree. It's not like the gay community is calling for Ford to stop advertising in Christian publications. The intolerance here is clearly one sided, and I'm proud of Ford for not honoring such a despicable deal.

The gay community certainly called for advertisers to pull ads from Dr. Laura's show.
 
Stinger said:
The gay community certainly called for advertisers to pull ads from Dr. Laura's show.

Oh *snap*! Excellent retort.
 
Stinger said:
The gay community certainly called for advertisers to pull ads from Dr. Laura's show.

That is true, but they've never made a statement like, "All we wanted was for Ford to refrain from choosing sides in the cultural war, and supporting groups which promote same-sex marriage is not remaining neutral" (except in reverse)

At least they're being open and honest about what side they're on.
 
Mikkel said:
That is true, but they've never made a statement like, "All we wanted was for Ford to refrain from choosing sides in the cultural war, and supporting groups which promote same-sex marriage is not remaining neutral" (except in reverse)

True, their, the gay groups, statements went beyond the pale and were quite outrageous against the Dr.

At least they're being open and honest about what side they're on.

I think both sides in both cases are pretty open and honest as far as what side they are on.
 
Mikkel said:
That is true, but they've never made a statement like, "All we wanted was for Ford to refrain from choosing sides in the cultural war, and supporting groups which promote same-sex marriage is not remaining neutral" (except in reverse)

At least they're being open and honest about what side they're on.

The US is a capitalist nation. It doesn't matter what side you are on.

If they call for a boycott, that is their choice to make regardless of the intentions or honesty. If there are enough to shut them down, then lessons will be learned to keep politics out of the workplace. Again, regardless what side one is on.

Personally I do not buy Ford or Levis for the same reasons mentioned in the article. Along with the fact they are anti-gun.
 
You won't buy Ford or Levi's because they advertise to gays?

Did the gay groups (I won't say community, as I doubt the entire community supported it, or even noticed) threaten to aggressively boycott the advertisers and bully them into doing what they wanted?
 
Dr. Laura:

"A huge portion of the male homosexual populace is predatory on young boys."

"If you're gay or lesbian it's a biological error."

"I call homosexual practices deviant."

Now, if you can find something in gay publications calling Christianity 'deviant' or a 'theological error' or, (lol) 'predatory on young boys' (scratch that last one, because it probably was said and was probably justified), then I might think the American Family Association was justified in saying Ford was 'taking sides.' If not, I find the comparison incompatible.
 
Besides, advertising to a certain group isn't political unless you make it.
 
vauge said:
The US is a capitalist nation. It doesn't matter what side you are on.

If they call for a boycott, that is their choice to make regardless of the intentions or honesty. If there are enough to shut them down, then lessons will be learned to keep politics out of the workplace. Again, regardless what side one is on.

Personally I do not buy Ford or Levis for the same reasons mentioned in the article. Along with the fact they are anti-gun.

I don't buy them because they don't make the better cars.
 
vergiss said:
You won't buy Ford or Levi's because they advertise to gays?

It has nothing to do with what I will or won't do.

Did the gay groups (I won't say community, as I doubt the entire community supported it, or even noticed) threaten to aggressively boycott the advertisers and bully them into doing what they wanted?

Absotlutely.
 
So it's OK for Gay groups to call for boycotts but not Christian groups.
 
Stinger said:
It has nothing to do with what I will or won't do.

Absotlutely.

I was addressing it to vague.

Can you provide a link regarding Dr Laura? It's something I seem to have missed over here.
 
Stinger said:
So it's OK for Gay groups to call for boycotts but not Christian groups.

It's fine for Christian groups to call boycotts if they are directly attacked, like Dr. Laura directly attacked the gay community, but it's unreasonable to call a boycott on a gay publication because they don't like the gay lifestyle. That's intolerant and unamerican.
 
They're not even calling a boycott on a gay publication, they're calling a boycott on a company that advertised in a gay publication. *coughanalretentivecough*
 
vergiss said:
You won't buy Ford or Levi's because they advertise to gays?

Did the gay groups (I won't say community, as I doubt the entire community supported it, or even noticed) threaten to aggressively boycott the advertisers and bully them into doing what they wanted?

I won't buy from Ford or Levi's because they are anti-gun. And because they advertise to gays and seem to discount Christian values - it's icing on the cake and more so targets my personal boycott. I wouldn't loose any sleep if my kid bought a pair of jeans, but I will make it well known my position on it.

I don't care what they say or do, the gay groups are not strong enough to bully anyone. Some liberal groups are indeed strong and can do some bullying on behalf of the gay community though.
 
I don't car where ford advertises because ford sucks!

Why are these "conservative" groups looking in gay magazines anyway--hint hint-- It just gives the magazines more publicity.
 
Jesus Christ, do the gays themselves pay this much attention to who advertises in their magazines? Why are these ass clowns even perusing gay propaganda in the first place?
 
I really don't see why the AFA has to make such a big deal out of this....

Ford is corporation, and their purpose is profits. They don't care who's buying their vehicles, all they care about is the fact that their vehicles are being bought, period.

Advertising in a gay publication is not endorsing homosexuality...it's trying to get them to buy a product. Just like advertising in People, Newsweek, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, etc. is nothing more than a marketing ploy to drive sales.

So, what's next? The KKK is going to stage a boycott if Skoal advertises in Jet or Black Enterprise?
 
Befuddled_Stoner said:
Jesus Christ, do the gays themselves pay this much attention to who advertises in their magazines? Why are these ass clowns even perusing gay propaganda in the first place?

BWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

This post and the one prior to it are friggin' hilarious.

Seriously... Christians are now trying to use the power of the Boycott to control the masses. Thats ridiculous, and since corporate America is letting them win, we will continue to see Christian boycots and stuff until we are a prudish lame society, or, corporate America and everyone else who aren't all prudish grabs thier balls and stands up for what they want to do....
Be it Advertise in Gay Magazines.....
Or ask thier employees to represent thier business in a way that they want to be represented during the Holidays........
Or whatever else they damned well please.... I dont know... sell 'GRAND THEFT AUTO' and other violent games.
 
Stace said:
So, what's next? The KKK is going to stage a boycott if Skoal advertises in Jet or Black Enterprise?

If they were going to do that they would have done it by now... and not for advertising in Jet or Black Enterprise.....

But because the manufacturer of Skoal is also the maker of Copenhagen.

And Copenhagen has a flavor called "Black"

That would be enough to **** them off.
 
Mikkel said:
Dr. Laura:

"A huge portion of the male homosexual populace is predatory on young boys."

"If you're gay or lesbian it's a biological error."

"I call homosexual practices deviant."

Now, if you can find something in gay publications calling Christianity 'deviant' or a 'theological error' or, (lol) 'predatory on young boys' (scratch that last one, because it probably was said and was probably justified), then I might think the American Family Association was justified in saying Ford was 'taking sides.' If not, I find the comparison incompatible.

EXCELLENT POINT. Dr. Laura thinks it's okay to criticize gay people? She should be ashamed of herself! *crossing fingers that either one of her children is gay or her husband (if she has one) dumps her butt because he's gay*
 
aps said:
EXCELLENT POINT. Dr. Laura thinks it's okay to criticize gay people? She should be ashamed of herself! *crossing fingers that either one of her children is gay or her husband (if she has one) dumps her butt because he's gay*

Thanks. If the AFA successfully boycotts gay publications because they disagree with their politics, I think I might just start boycotting companies that advertise on FOX NEWS.
 
Mikkel said:
Thanks. If the AFA successfully boycotts gay publications because they disagree with their politics, I think I might just start boycotting companies that advertise on FOX NEWS.

I knew there must have been a reason for the gay community to want ads pulled from Dr. Laura's show. They are normally not discriminatory. Personally, I despise Dr. Laura. She's an intolerant idiot.
 
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