For years, Ford Motor Company has been supportive of the gay community. Much of this support was generated in 2002 when Ford desperately needed Allan Gilmour, a vice president who had retired, to return to return to rescue them from a financial nightmare. After retirement, the VP had come out publicly.
Some support has been more about target marketing included gay specific ads in community papers for Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo. Other support was more specific, such as sponsorship of events (such as GLAAD’s media awards) in exchange for prominent placement. This allowed them, for a relatively small expense, to reach a high concentration of the well heeled (for example studio executives of all major Hollywood studios).
Some support directly impacted gay people, such as non-discrimination policies and domestic partnership benefits.
All of this infuriated the American Family Association, an organization dedicated to eliminating any semblance of equality that has been achieved by gay people. They threatened a boycott and used the threat to pressure Ford to cease advertising to gay people, cease sponsorship of gay events, and take away benefits (and possibly non-discrimination protection) from gay employees.
Ford capitulated. WardsAuto, an industry news source, reported the initial story:
In a Nov. 29 meeting at AFA headquarters in Tupelo, MS, David Leitch, general counsel and vice president for Ford, and Ziad Ojakli, group vice president-Corporate Affairs, along with Dallas-area Ford dealer Jerry Reynolds, hammered out a deal.
“We are ending the boycott of Ford,” said Donald E. Wildmon, Chairman of AFA. “While we still have a few differences with Ford, we feel that our concerns are being addressed in good faith and will continue to be addressed in the future.”
A Ford spokesman says the two parties had a “broad discussion” and deferred to the AFA to announce the reconciliation details.
When asked about this, Ford denied that they gave in to demands from AFA and insisted that they had not made any agreement. They said that they had intended to cease niche marketing for Jaguar and Range Rover for quite a while but would continue advertising for Volvo in gay press and that it all had nothing to do with AFA but was a “business decision”.
It now appears that this was a lie.
Today, WardsAuto reports that they did indeed make an agreement and that terms included:
[quote second hand from AmericaBlog – the article is subscription only]Ford Motor Co.’s decision to cease advertising in gay publications for its Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands is part of a truce between the auto maker and the American Family Assn. (AFA) to avert a threatened boycott by the right-wing Christian conservative group, Ward‚s learns….
As part of the latest agreement hammered out Nov. 29, sources confirm Volvo Cars will continue to advertise in the publications but will use generic ads not tailored to the gay community.
In addition, Ford has agreed not to sponsor any future gay and lesbian events but will continue to maintain its employee policies, such as same-sex partner benefits.
The larger gay organizations are responding with tepid criticism, perhaps because they’ve long had a good relationship with the company and are caught off-guard. Or perhaps they overestimated the company’s commitment to be inclusive of our community or are waiting for additional details.
There is not yet an agreed upon method of response. However, it is likely that someone will initiate a boycott if Ford does not immediately make another “business decision”.
I, for one, feel this is a pivotal moment and that if we allow AFA to push a business into removing gay people from its concept of customer, those who hate gay people (and I do not use the word “hate” lightly) will become energized to attack on more fronts.
As everyone focuses on the advertising the Ford is pulling, it’s easy to overlook the key issue here:
“As part of the latest agreement hammered out Nov. 29, sources confirm Volvo Cars will continue to advertise in the publications but will use generic ads not tailored to the gay community.
“In addition, Ford has agreed not to sponsor any future gay and lesbian events but will continue to maintain its employee policies, such as same-sex partner benefits.”
Without his key point, it’s just one set of commercial establishments (Advocate, Out, etc) being upset over lost advertising. But it is much, much more than that.
1) AFA has demanded, and apparently Ford has agreed, that all future advertising would not depict gays and lesbians in a positive light — or any light period.
2) AFA has demanded, and apparently Ford has agreed, that Ford will cede all of its community relations activity over to the AFA.
I drive a Volvo. I am particularly upset that Volvo, for whatever reason, is being “excepted”. Is Ford having its cake and eating it too? I have no intention of letting Volvo off the hook as if they were innocent bystanders. It’s all owned by Ford, who is caving in to the AFA on behalf of its divisions and subsidiaries.
Jim, obviously Ford is trying to have its cake and eat it, too.
We wouldn’t have anything to do with Ford. Their cars are over-priced and under-quality. We used to have Mercury Sables, but I was shocked when the crankshaft of my partner’s Sable broke. It was amazing. Nobody even at the repair shop had heard of a crankshaft breaking. (The crankshaft is the central portion of the motor, directing the pistons, and should be the strongest part of the car.) We had had Toyotas up to then, and determined never to buy another American labeled car again.
We won’t have anything to do with GM either, and it’s unlikely that we’ll have anything to do with DaimlerChrysler, either.
Following up, Henry Ford (the senior) was a supporter of the Nazi party in Germany. That is well documented.
If we had known that before we bought their Sables, we probably would not have had anything to do with Ford. My partner’s family were in Nazi occupied Germany prior to and during WWII.
I agree that this is big – particularly as other AFA boycotts, e.g., Disney, have not made a dent in the company’s market at all. I am a fan of Americablog, and they had posted a story a couple of days ago about some changes in leadership at Ford, including two ex-members of the Bush administration, that may account for the shift in policy.
Nevertheless, I think it is vital that the GLBT community, and our straight supporters, get the word out and make as big a PR mess for Ford as we can. The mainstream press has picked up the basic story – about the pulling of ads – but has not, as far as I know, reported on the revelation that the initial comments from Ford were basically false. But I also think we need to get people to understand the complete ugliness of these actions – this is basically a protest by AFA of a company acknowledging the existence of gays and lesbians.
There continues to be widespread support in this country for basic GLBT civil rights like workplace and housing discrimination laws, and I really think the typical straight person would be appalled that the AFA protested about a few ads and some sponsorships of Pride festivals – actions Ford takes for many different communities. The analogy of the KKK demanding an end to ads in Jet or Ebony is simply too easy to make for most people – and this could turn out to be positive for us.
This is definitely worrisome, because this may cause other companies to abandon gays because they think that they have no choice, that there is some huge amount of people out there who will cause their company to go under if they support gays. This will also be used as an excuse for companies, possibly including Ford, to cut back on any benefits or protections for their gay employees.
Similar to Microsoft, I think this is more the work of anti-gay activists who work inside the company than any actual success from the boycott, but the media won’t report it that way.
Gays are being attacked from all sides, and this minority who attack us have more and more power every day because few, if any people will speak up for us or support us. This is just more of the same.
I am very worried about what is ahead for gays in America. People said that corporations would support us no matter what, that they were the last refuge now that courts and legislatures are increasingly opposed to us. Now the corporations are beginning to backstab us. I wonder if this will just get worse and worse, or if anything will improve.
Americablog has a lot of great links and contact information on this matter.
James, Americablog reported today that some insiders at Ford have links to the right wing.
A couple of things to keep in mind: AFA is boycott happy (and, IMHO, a bunch of Bozos). Remember their boycott of Disney? It was a total failure after nine years.
Why? Because they boycotted one of the few companies that produced entertainment geared toward and suitable for young children that was free of violence and sex.
Their rationale for that boycott? Because Disney provided Domestic Partnership benefits for GLBT employees. It was the one and only time that any business was boycotted for providing a benefit for employees.
After nine years, AFA claimed it was lifting its boycott because it had succeded. Disney was more “pro-family.” Michael Eisner resigned, as part of the normal course of business and this had NOTHING to do with AFA’s pathetic attempt at a boycott. Disney’s profits and stock were up and it still provides DP Benefits to its GLBT employees. (It also still hosts Gay Days at Disney in Orlando. This makes AFA et. al. apopletictic – I just LOVE apoplepsy!)
AFA is also currently boycotting Target because they don’t say “Merry Christmas” enough (as opposed to “Happy Holidays.”) They also claim to have had the same beef with Sears, and Walmart. I’d love to know where these people purchase their holiday presents.
I seriously doubt the Ford is going to see any increase in business due to its pulling ads from GLBT publications. After awhile, its execs will scratch their heads and wonder what they were thinking when they listened to these clowns.
Any corporation’s main purpose is to make a profit and return that profit to its investors. An excellent way to counter the bullying of AFA and its ilk is for people who hold stock in Ford to divest themselves of it quickly. It tends to have a domino effect and lower the cost of shares.
As for AFA, it claims 2,000,000+ members. Using the lowest estimate of the GLBT population (3%), that comes to 10,000,000 people!
Sorry to be so long, but these people really get on my nerves!
Phil, they may claim that many, but everything about them seems very cheap to me.
They boycotted P&G due to P&G supporting a repeal of an anti-gay law in Cincinnati. P&G agreed to pull some ads in the gay media and AFA ended the boycott. But that didn’t get as much attention, maybe because P&G is not as pro-gay to start with, or P&G didn’t go as far in their caving as Ford has.
Dan Coats and Mark Souder, the men that these right-wing Ford employees used to work for, are extremely anti-gay, especially Souder.
That these people have a foothold in Ford means Ford may now begin a witchhunt against gays.
The media goes right along with these crusades against gays, and more and more companies seem to be complying. I’m very worried about what is coming next. These tiny pressure groups win because no one wants to defend gays. We have so little and they are taking it all away.
James, there’s no doubt it’s cheap. However, the culture is changing. As with P&G, I think what Ford is going to end up doing is pull some ads from some gay media, wait a few months, and go right back to doing what it’s been doing all along.
AFA is a tiny, nutty right-wing pressure group. Ford says, “OK, we’ve been bad – mea culpa.” AFA will say “see – we won, see how powerful we are, and find someone else to “boycott.”
I see very little lasting damage from these boycotts, and I also see other right-wing groups not even bothering with them other than to give them passing mention (See Concerned Women for America – https://www.cwfa.org). They say right up front they don’t do boycotts. (I think they’re every bit as nutty as AFA, but at least they’re more pragmatic.)
Last time I went to the store, Kraft products were still selling well, Ivory Soap (my fave) was not suffering from a sales slump, Walgreen’s is still opening new stores on every available corner around here.
All of the above companies have been subject to AFA boycotts or threats thereof. (That reminds me, I need to pick up some more mac n’ cheese, because it makes an easy side dish!)
I also note that Ford continues to offer DP benefits to its employees, and sent a memo to GLBT employees reassuring them that this practice would continue. In the corporate world, you need to learn to read between the lines sometimes.
Remember too, that Ford is in trouble in the US, but it also markets heavily to the EU, Canada, etc. and none of these places have a credible right-wing, as we do in the U.S. (Check your business headlines, they’re facing mass layoffs.)
Lastly, remember that for every Ford Motors product, there’s a Subaru, a Saab, a Volkswagen, a Peugeot, or even a Volga. The American car manufacturers can’t afford to make themselves look like idiots in front of the general (and more enlightened) public.
Boycotts, while questionable in their effectiveness, can prove to be a double edged sword.
Disney, Kraft, Sony, and more have lost thousands thanks to my family. We have three small children, image all the money one could spend on disney. Now no one buys disney for my children!
I could not sleep at night knowing that I am helping kill babies and promote unnatural life. Look at it in a scientific manner. If gays and/or lesbians are natural why can’t they reproduce? Do you expect them to evolve enough to be able to concieve children on their own, with out the help of another sex? Or is this just another way you are promoting 0 population growth?
Yes Angel, homosexuality is part of a master plan to promote zero population growth. The only way to avoid the deadly homo-rays is to wear your tinfoil helmet 24/7. Get it on at once!