Ford pulls LR/Jag GLBT support due to American Family threat

[innerSpaceman]

Also from the story G.C. linked to:

However, in later statements to other media outlets, Moran and other spokespersons have maintained that there is no agreement between AFA and Ford to end advertising in the gay and lesbian press, or to end support for gay and lesbian organizations, as part of a deal to end the boycott threat. Instead, in statements to the Associated Press and other outlets, Moran and others maintain that the decision was made for business reasons. Like other domestic automakers, Ford currently faces dispiriting sales numbers that, they say, require revisiting their marketing and advertising budgets.

Moran did not return calls seeking clarification of his statement by Metro Weekly press time. AFA did not respond to repeated requests by Metro Weekly for comment.

I find Moran's initial quote (as referenced in G.C.'s post above) extremely disturbing, and have some suspicions about later backpeddling. Still, if I were to issue two conflicting statements, I would hope that undue reliance would not be given to the one which I uttered first - simply because I uttered it first.


I completely understand that advertising dollars going to gay publications is support of those publications, which in turn support the gay community. But I contend that advertising is not done for support, and that any such support is merely a byproduct. And since car sales are generally sucking, I really cannot put too much stock into advertising being pulled - no matter how suspicious the circumstances. It is no great loss to the GLBT community to lose hucksterism directed towards it. There are far better acknowledgments of our existence than being targeted for consumerism.


To each his own, but I find gay-specific advertising to be creepy, just as I would find jew-specific advertising to be creepy. Again, I contend that it's a far bigger issue if Ford was pressued to stop sponsoring gay events by threat of boycott; but what it does in terms of advertising is strictly its own business.