|
What is the source of the information that the Jag and Land Rover advertising in gay magazines had a large ROI?
Also, since they're all owned by one company you can't look at it at just the single line of business level. If the ads increase Jag/LR sales X% (which is possible, though I would guess it is more effective in model awareness than brand awareness) and decrease Ford sales X+Y% (because of a boycott, which I doubt) then it still makes sense as a business decision.
Ford didn't start running the ads for altruistic reasons and it is unlikely that they would stop for altruistic reasons.
I also don't consider run gay-friendly ads only in gay publications to be supporting gay causes. In gay people this is called being in the closet and more generally is called pandering (which is what targeted advertising is all about). Now, if Ford ran gay ads in Time magazine (and I would bet that more gay people read Time than The Advocate) then I might buy that the advertising is "supportive" of gay causes.
Now, while I would prefer that Ford altruisticly say "**** you" to the AFA (as Wells Fargo kind of did) I don't tend to expect altruism.
I'm not surprised if there was an agreement. I'm also not surprised if it turns out that Jag/LR decided to change their marketing and some executive saw the plans and say "hey, we can also use this to get AFA of our asses."
Regardless, I don't really care who they decide to advertise with or why. As soon as some agreement changes how they actually treat gay people at Ford then I'll be concerned.
|