Antigay industry / state / church nexus equals......

December 6, 2005 4:39 PM

Gay hating Ford exec led push for Roberts nomination, meanwhile.....The scandal [ see mefi 47306] lurches in new directions as antigay Ford exec caught "running secret meetings out of Ford's own offices in support of Bush's far-right Supreme Court nominees." The Ford / Nazi link is bad enough, and the leader of the largest branch of American Judaism has recently said, in a speech, "when Hitler came to power in 1933, one of the first things that he did was ban gay organizations", now a new Am. Judaic alliance to oppose ( viciously anti-gay ) Christian theocratic nationalism ?
posted by troutfishing (54 comments total)

There a rather nice summation of these new wrinkles in this grotesque ugliness of a scandal at the Daily Kos, and meanwhile, Michelle Goldberg, senior writer at Salon, writes of the antisemitic nature of the "War on Christmas" campaign by the Christian right.

What a writhing mass of ugliness this is.
posted by troutfishing at 4:43 PM on December 6, 2005

Color me skeptical. While I fully believe the current administration may have an anti-gay agenda I doubt a corporation in the US would want to come down on either side of this double edged sword.

This is where politics and business don't mix and most business folks understand this.
posted by aaronscool at 4:48 PM on December 6, 2005

I hate gay Fords. My Ford truck just came out that it's gay. I think it's 'cause my wife put curtains up instead of a gun rack. I just can't get over it. I think I'm going to catch "teh gay" sitting in it.
*joke comes to a complete stop*

So troutfishing, the enemy of my enemy is my friend?

Don't discount some of us gun-toting, meat-eating, secure to the point of arrogance in our manhood, conservative types.
I've never seen any of those anti-gay arguments as anything more than insecurity.

That said, I think sexual control is part and parcel with some religions. My best friend is Jewish. Partly because we both like the chinese food, and partly because we can commiserate on mother issues (I grew up Catholic).

So, this might be a double edged sword. The ADL...backing off from things or letting things slide...not so much.
posted by Smedleyman at 4:51 PM on December 6, 2005

My best friend is Jewish. Partly because we both like the chinese food, and partly because we can commiserate on mother issues (I grew up Catholic).

Your best friend is Jewish because you both like chinese food?
posted by papakwanz at 4:55 PM on December 6, 2005

While I fully believe the current administration may have an anti-gay agenda I doubt a corporation in the US would want to come down on either side of this double edged sword.

Did you miss the whole Nazi thing above? The whole point is that it's happed before with this same corporation and Hitler. Hitler. They rubbed elbows with Hitler and you don't think they'd work with the White House to forward their social agenda?
posted by VulcanMike at 5:00 PM on December 6, 2005

Is it too soon to include the Bush family?
posted by hortense at 5:02 PM on December 6, 2005

"Don't discount some of us gun-toting, meat-eating, secure to the point of arrogance in our manhood, conservative types.
I've never seen any of those anti-gay arguments as anything more than insecurity."

Let's see:

1) Gun toting - well, planning on it
2) meat eating - sometimes
3) secure in my manhood - yes
4) conservative - no

I don't discount people like you at all. But I really don't see the anti-gay arguments as insecurity : they are part of a massive, well organized campaign that's been pretty extensively written on. The anti-gay attacks are useful to solidy the Christian right movement.

They were that in the 1930's, in Germany, and they are that now, in the year 2005.

I didn't say it - major American-Jewish leaders have just said it, and I'd say Jews have the right to draw those parallels.
posted by troutfishing at 5:07 PM on December 6, 2005

So Ford decides to stop advertising in a tiny segment of publications in response to a large segment of its consumer base and they get the Nazi label?

This is an advertising decision.

I guess there may be a slippery slope here, but it is a loooong way away from naziism.

And trying to tie the current Ford corp. back to Henry Ford's paranoid zionist conspiracy illusions is, well, farfetched.

Money article on the issue.

And now that the Gay and Lesbian advocacy groups are up in arms about it, it will be interesting to see how Ford reacts. I bet dollars to donuts that they will reach some compromise, that's the sort of thing that happens in a free market economy. Companies make mistakes and then most of the time try and rectify those mistakes.
posted by gregoftheweb at 5:12 PM on December 6, 2005

This is where politics and business don't mix and most business folks understand this.

Well, earlier this year Microsoft bowed to the anti-gay position of a right-wing pastor by abandoning its support for gay civil rights. The brouhaha raised by customers, employees, suppliers and others in the business compunity quickly forced them to return to their original inclusionary position:

"Microsoft now says that in the future, it will endorse gay-friendly laws. 'I've concluded that diversity in the workplace is such an important issue for our business that it should be included in our legislative agenda,' Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, wrote, in an e-mail to employees." [Salon]

I hope public pressure will cause Ford to reexamine its recent move.
posted by ericb at 5:12 PM on December 6, 2005

"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." [WardsAuto | November 30, 2005]
posted by ericb at 5:16 PM on December 6, 2005

Have you boycotted Ford lately?
posted by uosuaq at 5:17 PM on December 6, 2005

Your best friend is Jewish because you both like chinese food?- posted by papakwanz

Partly.

Long story.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:22 PM on December 6, 2005

Ford's description of what the American Family Association was upset about in a letter to its gay and lesbian employee group:

"The boycott, the purpose of which was to protest certain Ford marketing activities aimed at the gay and lesbian community, was announced in May and temporarily suspended in June."

Actually the AFA was demanding Ford not only stop advertising with gay and lesbian publications, but also stop providing benefits to the partners of its gay employees, offering diversity training and its sponsorship of gay events and organizations.
posted by ericb at 5:23 PM on December 6, 2005

I don't mean to imply he became Jewish as a result of our mutual enjoyment of Chinese food....if, uh, that's what you were thinking.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:23 PM on December 6, 2005

What Ford says it's about:
"The boycott, the purpose of which was to protest certain Ford marketing activities aimed at the gay and lesbian community, was announced in May and temporarily suspended in June."

In fact, while Ford would have you believe the American Family Association was simply complaining about some ads, in fact the AFA was protesting what it called Ford's support of "gay marriage." ( - Americablog)

From the AFA:

On Monday (May 30), AFA announced it has launched a boycott against the Ford Motor Company because of the company's track record for supporting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual "marriage." The pro-family group's founder and chairman, Donald E. Wildmon, says Ford's financial support of the homosexual agenda goes far beyond a few donations.

Dr. Don Wildmon
"From redefining family to include homosexual marriage; to giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to support homosexual groups and their agenda; to forcing managers to attend diversity training on how to promote the acceptance of homosexuality; to sponsoring a commitment ceremony -- that is, 'marriage'; to sponsoring 'gay pride' parades, Ford leads the way," Wildmon states. "The goal of every homosexual organization supported by Ford is to get homosexual marriage legalized.

So gregoftheweb - it is not about ads: it's about ford having gay friendly policies to its staff, and marketing to the odd gay couple in Europe is a minor side issue.

It sure looks like Ford caved to the christian right on this: but if you look at what Microsoft had to back pedal on earlier this year, that cave in may not last long. Fair play to John at americablog in fighting back against the lily livered execs at ford.
posted by dash_slot- at 5:25 PM on December 6, 2005

At current Google count -- 226 current articles on the Ford brouhaha...and sure to grow.

And, yes, John Aravosis at AMERICAblog is doing a fine job on reporting about this situation.
posted by ericb at 5:31 PM on December 6, 2005

secure to the point of arrogance in our manhood

Is there anything more manly than a little man-on-man loving?

Just asking.
posted by docgonzo at 5:33 PM on December 6, 2005

Is the whole "jihad for Christmas" really anti-Semitic? I mean, I always figured that it wasn't "secularists" who get offended by hearing "Merry Christmas" but religious people of other faiths.

Bill O'Riley complained a lot about George Soros, and while he may be a 'secularist' he is definitely a Jew.

However, I just assumed these people were too dense to make the connection.
posted by delmoi at 5:36 PM on December 6, 2005

Is there anything more manly than a little man-on-man loving?

Playing in theaters this coming weekend. ;)
posted by ericb at 5:37 PM on December 6, 2005

I have a feeling that the gay and lesbian market is probably a bigger demographic than the shriveled souls who proclaim their self-righteous contempt for those who are different.

Now, I don't have the gay myself, but I do abhor prejudice and discrimination. My guess is that the majority of the auto-buying public are similarly disgusted by such overt pandering to such a strident minority.

We all need to let those Ford execs know that we will never reward their shameful behaviour by buying one of their products until they change their position, and apologize to the gay and lesbian community for their thoughtlessness.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 5:39 PM on December 6, 2005

So Ford decides to stop advertising in a tiny segment of publications in response to a large segment of its consumer base and they get the Nazi label?

Tiny segment of the population? Maybe. Tiny Segment of the Volvo driving population...?
posted by delmoi at 5:41 PM on December 6, 2005

Did you miss the whole Nazi thing above? The whole point is that it's happed before with this same corporation and Hitler. Hitler.

And here I thought the Nazi - Bush Family ties were the angle.

Either way, you have George Orwell"By ‘Fascism’ they mean, roughly speaking, something cruel, unscrupulous, arrogant, obscurantist, anti-liberal and anti-working-class. Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come." or perhaps A google search "We shall define creeping fascism as the lost of individual rights or the enhancement of the rights of the elite and corporations" as alluded to in the headline.
posted by rough ashlar at 5:54 PM on December 6, 2005

I have a feeling that the gay and lesbian market is probably a bigger demographic than the shriveled souls who proclaim their self-righteous contempt for those who are different.

I have to admit that this baffles me as well. Instinct tells me that the gay, the gay-freindly and the utterly indifferent outnumber the fundy zealots. Haven't their accountants crunced the numbers? Or are they utterly afraid of offending anyone? Or (the crucial question) does the Ford corporate heirarchy contain a few self-starting zealots?

Makes me feel kinda bad about the used '93 Escort I drove for a decade.
posted by jonmc at 6:48 PM on December 6, 2005

Instinct tells me that the gay, the gay-freindly and the utterly indifferent outnumber the fundy zealots. Haven't their accountants crunced the numbers?

Not just numbers, but disposable income, too. Advertising to the gaypeople is a nice row to hoe if you're a marketeer.

But, alas, 20-25% of the population identifies itself as fundie, toss in another, what, 10-20% for culturally conservative Knights of Columbus types, and you've got a big Goliath you've got to placate and not make mad.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 7:25 PM on December 6, 2005

"The total buying power of the adult LGBT population in the US has grown by some $30 billion over the past two years.

The latest analysis by Witeck-Combs Communications, a marketing firm specializing in the gay and lesbian consumer and Packaged Facts (a division of MarketResearch.com) shows that LGBT buying power in 2005 will reach $610 billion.

In 2004, the gay buying power projection was estimated at $580 billion. " [source]
posted by ericb at 7:30 PM on December 6, 2005

posted by fandango_matt at 7:33 PM on December 6, 2005

Automotive Advertising in the Gay Market

"While niche markets become more defined and the spending habits of gay consumers more identifiable, within the automotive industry the message of ‘inclusiveness’ has already begun to be extended to the GLBT community. Of late it has become the new expectation that diversity marketing managers of almost any major automotive maker tap into the more than $600 billion projected spending power of the GLBT market.

Beginning with Subaru’s campaigns back in the early 90’s, it is obvious that automakers have had their eye on this potential market for some time now, and with new research data in hand, are further seeking ways to develop their brand’s relationship with the gay consumer....it is no longer simply a matter of acknowledging gay consumers, but rather aggressively pursuing them.

...in [Harris Interactive/Witeck-Combs] 2005 national survey they found that 69% of GLB respondents were more likely to consider purchasing services from companies who marketed to them over competing brands that did not. Also, 51% of the same respondents said that advertisements including gay and lesbian images were among the highest influencing factors causing them to consider a company’s products or services.

posted by ericb at 7:39 PM on December 6, 2005

I don't mean to imply he became Jewish as a result of our mutual enjoyment of Chinese food....if, uh, that's what you were thinking.
posted by Smedleyman

Yeah, that was the joke I was going for.
posted by papakwanz at 7:55 PM on December 6, 2005

Thanks for those hard numbers, people.

It's obvious that the influence of a lucrative market needs to be tapped here. Gays and Lesbians need to utilize their economic power and bring it to bear on short-sighted, fascist thinking.

I am peripherally involved in the adventure-travel business, where it's very well-recognized that marketing directed toward Gay and Lesbian clientele is simply good business.

Gay Ski Week at Whistler is an event I hate to miss. The atmosphere of sheer unadulterated fun has to be seen to be believed. All the staff love it, as does the general public. For every fundy offended by the sight of a line hairy-chested pink-tutu clad skiers conga-slaloming down the hill, there are a hundred straights who'll happily join in.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 8:17 PM on December 6, 2005

"When I wrote about the myth of the War on Christmas for Salon a few weeks ago, I noted that the narrative has its roots in Henry Ford's venomous tract "The International Jew," later resurfacing in John Birch Society propaganda. I wrote, "To compare today's 'war on Christmas' demagogues to Henry Ford is not to call them anti-Semites. Rather, they are purveyors of a conspiracy theory that repeatedly crops up in America. The malefactors change -- Jews, the U.N., the ACLU -- but the outlines stay the same. The scheme is always massive, reaching up to the highest levels of power." But in the last two weeks, I've started to think that I may have been giving the gang at Fox News too much credit, because every day they're sounding more and more like Father Coughlin, the fascist radio priest of the 1930s." - Michelle Goldberg, Anti Semitism and The Christmas Warriors
posted by troutfishing at 8:57 PM on December 6, 2005

[ continued ]

"......O'Reilly has been ranting about Soros and the ACLU forever. But this insistence on a covert, coordinated plot against Christianity by moneymen, lawyers and left-wing journalists has some very, very ugly echoes. "
posted by troutfishing at 8:59 PM on December 6, 2005

Gay Ski Week at Whistler

Aspen has appreciated and welcomed gays every January for the annual Gay Ski Week for 28 years.

As in B.C., the Bud Light^TM Downhill Costume Competition and Parade attracts gays, straights and families who enjoy watching similar "lines of hairy-chested pink-tutu clad skiers conga-slaloming down the hill!"
posted by ericb at 9:17 PM on December 6, 2005

I drive a lesbian car (scroll down.)
(And it pisses Freepers off!)
posted by Opposite George at 11:01 PM on December 6, 2005

It was interesting (where interesting means pathetic) to watch the debate play out on CNBC this afternoon. The anti-gay proponent was making the point that homosexual couples tend to have more disposable income. This somehow led to a mangled justification that homosexuals were not discriminated against, so it was justifiable to discriminate against them.

Yeah. That's about as clear as the argument was. Even the host wad a big "wtf?" going on.
posted by ryoshu at 11:16 PM on December 6, 2005

Haven't their accountants crunched the numbers?

Maybe they have. In a war of propaganda, you don't count the combatants. The anti-gay lobby may be only a small cabal but their messages are very effective. They exploit the basic human instinct to protect one's family and pander to conservative fears of change. Wouldn't these themes hit a nerve with the average American? You don't even have to completely believe in what you hear for it to be effective, because you may come to associate the brand subconsciously with feelings of fear or concern. It's just like advertising, which is probably why Ford was so keen to reach a deal. As appealing as the corporate conspiracy theory is, I'm sure this is all about economics. If the backlash against Ford's actions is strong enough, they'll soon reverse their decision.
posted by londonmark at 1:32 AM on December 7, 2005

And, yes, John Aravosis at AMERICAblog is doing a fine job on reporting about this situation.

If the linked to nazi-ford article is that standard I don't know how you can say that. It is builds a weak assed argument of rovian whisper style bullshit that is supposed to prove something.

"None of this work was actually penned by Ford"

"a 1933 Congressional investigation into the matter was unable to substantiate whether contributions were actually sent"

"Ford Motor Company was active in Germany's military buildup prior to World War II."

Every single paragraph sentence contains the information to undermine the claim the paragraph is trying to make. This comes across more as a smear than expose.

After all, users here have probably had anti-semetic arguments made on their websites, been solicited for donations by ideologically unpleasant organizations, and worked for companies that have involvement in overseas arms manufacturing. Will they be tarred as pro-republican 50 years from now when people look back?

There may be a case for Ford being apro-Nazi anti-semite but it isn't to be found here. The standard of "good" need to raised.
posted by srboisvert at 1:53 AM on December 7, 2005

The standard of "good" need to raised.

As does my standard of writing and proofreading.
posted by srboisvert at 1:54 AM on December 7, 2005

This is an advertising decision.

This is bullshit.

It's about caving in to the demands of the religious right. The same religious right who are so persecuted and marginalized in this country that they can threaten a boycott of a major corporation and have their will be done.
posted by Otis at 5:36 AM on December 7, 2005

Regarding Americablog, John ordered and will be posting excerpts of Ford's two works about the Jewish people, so I'll be watching for that during the next few weeks.
posted by VulcanMike at 5:57 AM on December 7, 2005

This is an advertising decision.

It is an advertising decision with unintended consequences that should award the genius doing that decision making a nice pink slip of flagrant P.R. incompetence. At a minimum. Look at the lot of bad press damaging Ford brand.

But there's more to it and that makes me ponder ...what's this meddling with religious extremists that try to paint themselves as messianic helpers ? Why does some Ford or anycompany executive choose to indirectly support an agenda of intolerance and fear ?

Consider also some people live a lifelong delusion of thinking business decisions are always justified by the goal of obtaining profit for the company. Curiously enough they forget this rule when it's time to line up their pockets at the expense of the company profit...maybe this time the Ford excutive just tought some extra from fundies was O.K.
posted by elpapacito at 6:09 AM on December 7, 2005

Otis, Ford is caving in to make the AFA look good because Ford is run be Christian conservatives. The AFA needs some political clout because they just abandonded their ineffective Disney boycott. Ford's executives are doing a favor for the AFA; gambling that costs to the company won't be trased tothem, but that the AFA can pay them off directly with future political jobs.
posted by jeffburdges at 6:42 AM on December 7, 2005

"The move by Ford, which doesn't include its Volvo brand, runs counter to efforts by other carmakers to reach out to gays and lesbians.

As a result, the second-largest automaker may be jeopardizing goodwill it had with a group whose spending power will hit $610 billion this year, said advertising executive Todd Evans. That figure is not far behind African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans in buying power.

Readers of gay publications tend to be 'influencers, the out gay person who is concerned with gay issues' and will spread the word about who advertises and who doesn't, said Evans, chief executive of Rivendell Media, an advertising placement firm in Mountainside, N.J.

'There's a lot of research that people will go out of their way and even pay more for a brand that is gay-friendly. When you're talking about big ticket items, a lot of thought goes into it,' Evans said.

Other automakers are reaching out to gay consumers, including Subaru of America, Mercedes-Benz and General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac, Saab and Saturn brands." [Chicago Tribune | December 06, 2005]
posted by ericb at 7:23 AM on December 7, 2005

This really is too similar to Microsoft's bullshit--they hired Ralph Reed as a consultant, and boom--no more support for equal rights. Now 2 of Ford's execs are former GOP staffers too, and they're the ones who met with the AFA.

What's really working in all this is that we're generating far more bad pr for Ford than the AFA did when they were boycotting them. It's the most viewed story on the Wash Post site today
posted by amberglow at 7:23 AM on December 7, 2005

"The prospect of a boycott from the American Family Association, which gathered 110,000 signatures on an anti-Ford petition, worried some Ford dealers in the South, such as Jerry Reynolds of Texas. Reynolds said he started getting calls from customers and realized that a boycott would hurt business, so he faxed a letter to the association...."

'Ford Motor Co. has a big public relations mess on its hands that it needs to clean up in short order,' [Joe] Solmonese [president of the Human Rights Campaign] said. He said his group is galvanizing its 600,000 members to protest Ford's advertising decision with letters and e-mails." [Washington Post | December 06, 2005]
posted by ericb at 7:27 AM on December 7, 2005

"...look at how this story is moving through the media. It started a few days ago in The Advocate, one of the affected publications. It moved to the wire services, and to print outlets, and then to cable news, on CNN”s 'American Morning.'

But all the while this traditional pattern of coverage was occurring, something else was going on, way more important, and way more than coverage. John Aravosis’s AMERICAblog was all over this story from the moment it began....

In one amazing example of the distributed intelligence that the Web has become, Aravosis published a clip from a trade publication which named the two Ford negotiators who cut the anti-gay deal with Wildmon: David Leitch and Ziad Ojakli. And then, overnight, the commenters on Aravosis’s blog figured out that Leitch and Ojakli were both former senior Bush White House officials.

This is reporting, even though no one is paying for it, and even though no journalistic brand-name is attached to it. It’s also advocacy: information assembled for a purpose. Does that make it less than journalism? No: it makes it more than stenography, which is what so much of the MSM has embarrassingly become." [Martin Kaplan, Associate Dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication]
posted by ericb at 7:45 AM on December 7, 2005

ericb - that's a zinger of a quote. Heh.

But, beyond factual accuracy, what makes journalism journalism ?

Shoe leather ? Good writing ? Being printed on paper ?

Now, I'd fully agree that there's not so much true journalism - by my definition - on the net. Also, I have a piece loitering on my desk on citijournalism that I have to finish to post on a site that's not actually really doing it but wants to, to draw more traffic to the site, so the extra eyeballs might by some stretch or even the stretch of two orders of magnitude of traffic needed, somehow make citijournalism pay........it just doesn't want to pay, this citijournalism stuff. Then there's the wily Newmark......

Anyway, I'm kinda busy today so the piece has to wait.

Still, why can't Americans do it ? The South Koreans figured this out 6 years ago !
posted by troutfishing at 9:35 AM on December 7, 2005

From: wealth 4 freedom

As early as 1923," when Hitler heard that Ford was planning to run for President, he "told an interviewer from the "Chicago-Tribune," "I wish that I could send some of my shock troops to Chicago and other big American cities to help"."

As late as 1940, Ford Motor Company "refused to build aircraft engines for England and instead built supplies of the 5-ton military trucks that were the backbone of German army transportation".
posted by rough ashlar at 10:36 AM on December 7, 2005

Christian Group Pulls Wells Fargo Accounts
'Focus on the Family' objects to donation to gay rights group.
posted by ericb at 11:14 AM on December 7, 2005

rough ashlar - that sort of thing continued through the war ( unofficially, under temporary German ownership ) and Ford, GM, or both were reimbursed for allied bombing damage to their German subsidiary plants after the war's end, by the US gov, I believe. This one goes on and on and on.............
posted by troutfishing at 11:20 AM on December 7, 2005

But, beyond factual accuracy, what makes journalism journalism ?

BTW -- this just in:

Web Journalism Now Eligible for Pulitzer Prize

"Internet journalism received a leap in recognition Wednesday as the Pulitzer Prize Board widened its submission guidelines to include online material for all of its journalism categories." [CBC.ca | December 07, 2005]

posted by ericb at 11:23 AM on December 7, 2005

" 'secure to the point of arrogance in our manhood'

Is there anything more manly than a little man-on-man loving?
Just asking." - posted by docgonzo

Perhaps man on man on man...wearing toolbelts....waitaminute!
I see what you did there. Tryin’ to trick me ‘eh? Lousy homosexual conspiracy
posted by Smedleyman at 11:51 AM on December 7, 2005

Driven to Hate: Let Ford Know You Think They're Pussies for Caving to the American Taliban

"So what can you do? Gay or straight, you should at least pick up the phone and let local Ford dealers know that you won't even consider buying a Ford after this. Why should straight people care? Because the same AFA fucks that have successfully intimidated Ford on the gay issue are also attacking straight rights—they’re the same assholes who have successfully intimidated retailers like Target into denying women access to morning-after pills. They’re the same assholes trying to convince the Feds not to release a vaccine for two strains of HPV , the virus that can cause cervical cancer in women. The HPV vaccine—already tested and 100% effective!—could save thousands of women’s lives every year. The AFA is fighting it.

Here’s a list of Ford dealers (use the link to find your local dealer). Call them, tell them you’re pissed — and remind them that the AFA’s boycott of Disney didn’t go anywhere. Tell them that when the AFA threatened Kraft, Kraft told the AFA to go fuck themselves. But Ford? The “Built Ford Tough” boys collapsed into a puddle when the AFA assholes threatened them with a boycott. So let Ford know what you don’t buy cars from companies that caves to right-wing hate mongers. And when the local dealers tell you that they didn’t make this decision, tell them that’s too bad. Tell them to scream and yell to Ford HQ and get this decision reversed, or you will never, ever consider buying a Ford.

And corporations can reverse themselves. Microsoft caved to right-wing Christian bullies, and then reversed itself. Tell ‘em Ford can too. Tell ‘em Ford better."

posted by ericb at 9:31 PM on December 7, 2005

Ford, gay rights leaders to meet on ad pullout.
posted by ericb at 1:55 PM on December 10, 2005

Ford reaffirms support for GLBT community:

"1. Ford announced that it will continue to support gay organizations and gay events in the coming year and beyond.

2. Ford is going to run advertisements in the gay media not only promoting the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, but the ads will promote all of Fords brands, by name, including Jaguar and Land Rover.

3. Ford states unequivocally that it will continue to tailor its ads for the specific audience it is trying to reach, and then goes one step further. Ford challenges us to keep an eye out on their upcoming ads in order to verify that they will in fact be tailored."

Ford releases a letter [PDF] regarding its commitments.
posted by ericb at 2:32 PM on December 14, 2005