Conservative Christian group considers reinstating Ford boycott

http://www.sovo.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=4078

The conservative American Family Association says it will consider reinstating a boycott against Ford Motor Company. That's because the automaker plans to continue running advertisements in gay publications.

Ford said last week it planned to stop advertising its Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands in gay publications to reduce marketing costs. But after gay rights groups complained and held meetings with the automaker, Ford reversed course.

AFA Chairman Don Wildmon says all his group wants is for Ford to refrain from "choosing sides in the cultural war." He says "supporting groups which promote same-sex marriage is not remaining neutral."

Ford has not commented yet.

before Ford changes course again?

Remaining neutral according to Wildmon's logic (lack thereof?) is a prohibition on advertising of any kind.

How many vehicles do they have that get over 30 MPG????

City driving is more like 25. I love my car, I have always driven Fords and always will. I don't hate the earth, either.

"piece of crap Fords." Detests them, and will never buy them again. Of course, I say the same thing about Pontiacs, having owned a total lemon of a Pontiac once.

Your statement is like the bull shit stuff Limbaugh says. Yesterday he said the Democrats lost the election in Iraq. That makes about as much sense as your statement.

Elitist leftists do exist and you prove it everyday. That stuff turns off a lot of people from what we are about.

How is demanding that Ford support their homophobic beliefs keep Ford neutral on the issue?

Their is no neutral area on this issue - you either support gay rights or you support the AFA. Their are no other choices.

Nice double talk by the AFA.

Ford's marketing people must be taking Loads of Advil and Tums this year.

advertise wherever they want to. If the hateful christians don't want to buy their cars, so what. I'm sure their are plenty of others who will.

If these companies stop pandering to these fundies, they will not have any power at all.

Seems like American corporations are just a bunch of wimps.

"If these companies stop pandering to these fundies, they will not have any power at all."

Disney, once upon a time, told the AFA to shove it and refused to meet/talk with them. The AFA's subsequent boycott amounted to nothing for many years and was quietly discontinued. Granted, Ford needs all the buyers it can get right now, but flip-flopping on what was (until now) a solid gay rights record was not the way to win any friends or customers.

Ford stepped in a pile here and is desperately trying to extricate themselves. Unfortunately, it looks like a classic case of circular firing squad - they have caused more problems than if they had told the AFA to get lost in the first place.

group to reflect their true nature.

Funny, as a Muslim criticizing Christians or Jews, I'd probably get lynched on Main St - but claiming to be a "Christian" is like having a 'get out of jail free' card.

It's such a shame to see a group of people who used to stand for so many things that were good for others get hijacked by these hate-mongers. The only way it will stop is for true Christians in this country to get pretty loud and denounce these wingnuts - the silence only makes it look like AFA and other hate-groups are speaking for all.

it's like watching to morons wrestling each other.

:popcorn:

Had they not started with their own bigotry in the first place, I doubt it would be a problem. Now they've got bigots everywhere mad because they didn't stay bigoted.

Ford is assuredly NOT a bigoted organization. I once worked in their sphere, and they are very open and accepting of GLBT employees. In fact, they surprised a lot of people when they began offering benefits to partners of GLBT employees.

Their mistake here was that a group of their dealers requested the pow-wow between Ford and the AFA; I do not think Ford understood who these people were and what their agenda was. Short-sighted, yes; uninformed, absolutely. Bigoted, though? No.

the fundies to press many other companies that support GLBT interests. Some will undoubtedly buckle. Hopefully the current very public failure to flip Ford will thwart future efforts and support those companies that might otherwise fold.

They won't buy Chrysler because of the German ownership (MB) and they won't buy GM because of the Unions, and they won't buy foreign because they hate them furriners.

Fuck 'em, let em rediscover the horse and buggy.

Shit, havent they fired something like 20,000 workers? Dont they need all the revenue they can get?

Fuck the AFA.

...making reliable, high-quality, fuel-efficient vehicles, the problem would vanish like magic. Unfortunately, the whole concept of "marketing" in this country has been transformed from "identify a need and create a product to fill the need" into "create a demand for whatever crap we can produce cheaply with a high profit margin."

That worked well for a couple of decades, but mark my words, a whole flock of chickens with BAD diarrhea is coming home to roost in America's consumer products sector.

prognosticatorially,
Bright

It's why they always fail.

and market it to their own:

let's see: starting with the obligatory bobblehead jesus on the dashboard,

....glow in the dark rosary beads hanging from the mirror ( optional )

....holy water dispensers on the doors

..... baptismal font in trunk


.....radio that plays ONLY xtian and hateradio stations, likewise a cd player that can tell the difference between holy and unholy cds and spit out the latter

.... licenseplate holders adorned w/ fundie symbols

.... a horn that blares ' onward christian soldiers ' to make other drivers get out of the way

.... headlights with crosses etched on the glass

oh, the possibilities are endless, lol!

Your Christian Car ideas are funny yet sad at the same time. There are people who would buy that, you know - which means Marketing is paying attention. :-(

AFA doesn't want Ford to pick sides in the culture war? Wait, isn't agreeing not to publish in gay publications a sign of picking sides? As in the side of the extreme neo-conservative bible pounders. I guess it is ok when people pick the side of the bible pounders because they must think that they are not a side in the culture war. Because after all they represent the "real" views of ALL Americans!

All I have to say is welcome to America's version of Nazi Germany with the Repukes and their religious nuts playing the part of the Nazi's and the gays playing the part of the Jews.

When will America wake up and realize that we should not actively participate in government/corporate sanctioned discrimination?

...I'm taking sides in a culture war? Gee, I thought I was trying to make a buck.

:evilgrin:

unless they are in the closet reading them? Maybe they are not so christian (by their own standards) at all! We have a few of these dumbasses at work. What a buch of fruitcakes.

All about 20 members of them. Does anyone else find this reminiscent of the McCarthy era when a very few people could control what the majority of Americans saw at the movies or on TV or read in the newspaper by labeling someone a Communist?

I wrote to Ford when they announced that they would pull advertising for Gays and told them that if they did, I would boycott them. I gave them a small statistical breakdown of how many people who were affluent enough to buy their luxury cars they were alienating. (Naw, I can't afford them, but I can afford regular cars.:) ) I told them how disenchanted I was with people like Bush and Wildmon and though I was straight I was as heavily invested in this as the Gays, because everyone deserves equal treatment under the law and in the marketplace.

Maybe they got a lot of letters and phone calls like that, because they backed off. If they try to reverse themselves now, I will write to them again and point out how many people are not in favor of Wildmon's boycott, and that if they want to lie down and play dead for Wildmon, perhaps he and his 20 members can support the Ford Motor Company.

I'm really sick of this crap.:argh:

have told Wildmon to put a sock in it, in a nice way of course. Ford has enough problems as it is. All they want to do is market and sell their cars, they don't give a rat's ass who they sell them to. Should have made that honest statement to Wildmon to begin with, now they're caught up in it all. Guess Ford fell for the KKKristian majority myth. They only seem like a majority because they say they are and say it loudly. I'm sorry Ford got into this pickle, but I hope other companies are paying attention. AFA may be a squeaky wheel, but don't waste your grease - it's only the spare. If Ford plays this right, they could take a lot of the wind out of the AFA's sails.