Under Pressure, Ford Will Cut Its Ads in Gay Publications (HatefulBIGOTS!)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/business/media/06ford.html

Under Pressure, Ford Will Cut Its Ads in Gay Publications

By JEREMY W. PETERS
DETROIT, Dec. 5 - After a threatened boycott from a conservative religious organization, the Ford Motor Company has said it will cut back on advertising in gay-oriented publications.

The group, the American Family Association, called for the boycott in May because of what it said was the company's "track record for supporting the homosexual agenda."

After a meeting last week between Ford executives and members of the group, the company said that its Jaguar and Land Rover brands would no longer be advertised in gay publications. It said it had no plans to change the advertising strategy for Volvo, another Ford unit.

A spokesman played down the role the boycott had in the company's decision, saying that the ads were eliminated as a cost-cutting measure. "As they begin planning their marketing for next year," the spokesman, Mike Moran, said Monday, "they've streamlined their budgets."

..

The American Family Association's chairman, Donald E. Wildmon, in a statement, expressed satisfaction. "They've heard our concerns," he said. "They are acting on our concerns."

CALL ALL YOUR LOCAL FORD DEALERS ALL DAY LONG TOMORROW AND TELL THEM THEIR RACIST BIGOTRY WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

Ford has caved to pressure from right-wing bigots American "Family" Association

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/ford-motor-comp...


Saturday, December 03, 2005

Ford Motor Company embraces homophobia in order to appease religious right
by John in DC - 12/03/2005 11:59:00 AM


UPDATE: Some initial contact info for Ford's public relation's people. Let's fill their voice mail boxes over the weekend. Ask them if they'd pull all their advertising in black media or Jewish media if the Klan gave them a call:

Contact: Rosemary Mariniello, Jaguar Land Rover North America, (201) 818-8010
Contact: Jim Cain, Ford Division, (313) 248-6288
Contact: Sara Tatchio, Lincoln and Mercury, (313) 594-3744
Contact: Roger Ormisher, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc., (800) 970-0888
Contact: George Pipas, Ford Motor Company, (313) 323-9216
Contact: Dan Bedore, Ford Division, (313) 323-7045

Well, we just got our new campaign. Ford needs to be taught a lesson. If they think they're above the fray and too big to be influenced by the mean homosexuals, they ought to give Bill Gates a call and see what happened to Microsoft when they endorsed outright bigotry in order to appease America's Taliban.

In a nutshell, the rabid homophobes at the American Family Association threatened Ford with a boycott earlier this year because they were advertising in the gay press. Suddenly in June the AFA called off their threatened boycott because local Ford dealers had contacted the national Ford office and, apparently, suggested Ford might be amenable to working out a deal. Now we find out that Ford is pulling its gay ads and that Ford even tells the Advocate that the AFA's press release claiming credit for this entire thing is accurate.

Ford wants to dance with bigots, that's fine. But you don't get to do that in the year 2005 and remain a prosperous company in America.

I want phone numbers and email contacts for all of Ford's top executives and public relations people. Go to it folks.

More from the Advocate:
The antigay American Family Association claimed a cultural victory on Thursday and called off its threatened boycott of Ford Motor Co. On Friday, Ford spokesman Mike Moran confirmed to Advocate.com that the company will stop advertising its Jaguar and Land Rover brands in gay publications but insisted it was strictly a business decision.

The Dearborn, Mich., automaker came under fire from the AFA in May for its longtime efforts to increase LGBT workplace diversity and support gay rights causes. Ford has long been a regular advertiser within gay media, including The Advocate, and has donated significant sums to LGBT causes and nonprofit groups such as the Human Rights Campaign.

Threatened with a boycott by the Mississippi-based AFA, Ford and some of its dealers agreed to negotiate, and the AFA announced in June that it would hold off on its planned action. On Thursday, AFA announced the boycott would be canceled altogether.

"They've heard our concerns; they are acting on our concerns. We are pleased with where we are," said Donald Wildmon, AFA’s chairman, in a statement. "Obviously there are still some small matters of difference, as people will always have, but generally speaking, we are pleased with the results—and therefore the boycott that had been suspended now officially ended."

Specific terms of any formal agreement between the AFA and Ford—and whether any such agreement has in fact been reached—remain unclear.

When first contacted, Ford spokesman Moran referred Advocate.com to the AFA statement, suggesting that the company had no disagreement with Wildmon's assertions. In a second conversation he confirmed that the company would no longer advertise Jaguar and Land Rover products in the gay media, saying that the decision was strictly "business."
More info, here is Ford's Board of Directors. Anyone got contact info:

Sir John R. H. Bond
Ellen R. Marram
Stephen G. Butler
Homer A. Neal
Kimberly A. Casiano
Jorma Ollila
Edsel B. Ford II
James J. Padilla
William Clay Ford, Jr.
Carl E. Reichardt
Irvine O. Hockaday, Jr.
Robert E. Rubin
Marie-Josée Kravis
John L. Thornton
Richard A. Manoogian

You can also find Ford's senior executives here.

What would be most useful is if someone inside Ford can send us a copy of the entire company phone directory. The folks at Paramount did it during our StopDrLaura.com campaign, it was quite helpful.

Bigotry IS america and MUST BE STOPPED !

If they wish to discriminate against gays, I won't look at their products.

I didn't know gays were a "race."

uselessly argue semantics here.

We shouldn't be giving Ford any of our business anyway no matter how much they spend to advertise in gay magazines.

Their environmental record alone is reason enough.

Tell Ford to go fuck themselves.

Corrected link:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/ford-motor-company-embraces-homophobia.html

Contact info and update:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments.php?user=katsiva&comment=113362956717036744

...methinks this goes beyond bowing to pressure from some rightwing hatemongering group.

I thought that I had heard that Ford was cutting back production of Jaquar. Makes you wonder how much the AFA is just using this to make it seem like they were sucessful in their efforts against Ford.

...and fear more what these rightwing sharks can do to them sensing Ford's blood in the water.

because middle America is patriotic and they will buy American unless of course the American company is pro-homosexual. Or something like that.

The irony is that Camrys and Accords are assembled in America, but Ford's new car that's supposed to compete with them isn't. Hecho in Mexico.

You speakest of promoting diversity in your company and touted your diversity program as an industry best practice.

Yet thou bowest to undue pressure from fundamentalist wackos and are backing out from embracing a group that the wackos don't like

However, when you alienateth a group, you are deleting potential market share. Shame on you. You will never get a red cent from me.

I'm still waiting for an explaination...

:grr::grr:

is simply to promote the gay community's right not to be discriminated against.

"It is those who oppose gay marriage who are actually the ones with the larger agenda. They want covenant marriages, new restrictions not just on sex education but on science education, and restrictions on divorce.

And most of all, they want to use opposition to gay marriage as a rallying cry for their troops. They wave the prospect of gay marriage like a red flag before a bull, blinding a portion of the population to their real agenda – more tax cuts for the rich while programs for the poor and working class are cut and slashed."

http://www.equalitymaryland.org/PR_2005/PR2005.11.20.htm

It's theocracy or democracy?

http://www.prius.com/

Wageing the battle of economic theory and all the while putting some bucks on a proven comodity in the process often wins

Lets divide America we no longer need to be 50 states. We can do it peacefully if we try.

We need to make sure they don't think so.

I can't stand scum like the afa!

and tell them what you think of their hate filled agenda.

http://www.afa.net/#

or click here to send them a personal message

http://www.afa.net/contact.asp

Sorry, Ford....you suck.

It's only got 6,000 miles on it. If I had known how Ford was going to handle this, I would have looked at a different manufacturer for my convertible.

When you bought it, Ford was doing the right thing. But I'd be sure to tell them that when they start calling you in a few years.

Gay and lesbian advocacy groups sharply criticized Ford Motor Co. for agreeing to stop advertising in gay-themed publications in the face of a boycott by the conservative American Family Association.

The AFA, based in Tupelo, Miss., launched a boycott of Ford in May to protest marketing aimed at gay and lesbian consumers as well as benefits the company extends to same-sex couples. The boycott was suspended for six months in June when Ford and dealer representatives met with the group. With the boycott set to resume last week, Ford dispatched two top company officers -- Ziad Ojakli, group vice president for corporate affairs, and David Leitch, senior vice president and general counsel, and a top dealer to Tupelo to meet with AFA officials last Tuesday.

Ford told the AFA that its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands have not advertised in gay and lesbian publications and will not in the future, said Ford spokesman Mike Moran. Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover brands will no longer target gay consumers through advertising, a move Moran called a "business decision."

.......

"We are deeply dismayed that Ford has entered into a confidential agreement with the extremist American Family Association that requires Ford to stop advertising in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media," a group of 17 gay and lesbian organizations said in a joint statement issued Monday. "If there is an agreement with AFA, we expect Ford to disavow it. We expect Ford to publicly reaffirm its historic support for our community. And, we expect Ford to meet with LGBT representatives this week to resolve these concerns."



http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051206/AUTO01/512060388/1148

enough said.

Why doesn't Ford try and advertise how good their cars are, regardless of one's sexual orientation, religion, or any other factor. I suspect homosexuals are looking for the same type of vehicles as the rest of us. Some are probably looking for something sporty, some are probably looking for something practical, some are probably looking for a truck, some are probably looking for something else. Just market the vehicles to the general public. Ford makes good vehicles, emphasize that, rather than getting a lot of people all P.O.ed at each other over some percieved "gay bias" or "religious bias". Or maybe I'm just some idiot idealist but I just wanted to say that.

extreme :sarcasm:

I agree with you.

and you are right, I just want a car that runs reliably, which means I would probably not ever buy another Ford anyway (I have one, and it's NEVER been right, not since day one).

What I DON'T want is to be pandered to in advertising, which is mindless and condescending ENOUGH as it is. Having a Ford ad tailored to gay people would likely end up portraying two impossibly beautiful men prancing out of a bar and hopping into their SUV on the way to their next party. None of which has anything to do with my life or what I would be using a car for.

....why take away our fun of finding all the hidden gay subtext ALREADY present in all media?

these publications were definitely damaged due to the political leanings of a third group not involved in their advertising contract.

me no lawyer, but me think this a good case.

That sez it all, no?

Never have, never will.

1) Shitty quality
2) Now, homophobic

fascist core. Like virtually all major U.S. corporations, Ford was openly pro-Nazi in the years before World War II, also provided the fascists in Spain (Franco etc.) with free trucks to help them destroy the Spanish Republic and exterminate Spanish socialists, Communists, anarchists, liberals, democracy advocates, labor advocates, academics, etc. (Much of the hatred the Spanish people have for the U.S. today dates not from Bush -- whose imperialism merely provides a convenient exclamation point -- but from the fact U.S. corporations financed Franco and his death squads.)

should be the rest of the headline.

And then, Ford will beg the government to bail them out of another economic mess because they lost even MORE market share...workers will be laid off...

What a stupid fucking decision.

They are losing business anyway, and now the fundies are telling them where they can and can't advertise.