Christian groups to boycott Ford for advertising in gay publications

[Stunt]

Bad news for Ford either way. I think this approach by christian groups is just sickening...

In all honesty, Ford should keep the advertising, when was the last time you saw a red state hick in a jag or land rover 😉

Ford caught in public relations quagmire
Tue Dec 13, 2005 4:36 PM ET

By Poornima Gupta

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. is caught in an ideological divide between a Christian conservative group and gay rights advocates over its advertising plans, adding a public relations nightmare to the set of problems it needs to fix.

Ford said last week its Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands will pull all advertising from gay publications after facing a boycott threat from the American Family Association, which has criticized the automaker for being gay-friendly.

Gay advocates are now pressuring the No. 2 U.S. automaker to reverse its decision and distance itself from AFA. Senior Ford executives met with the leadership of national gay and lesbian organizations on Monday in Washington, D.C.

"We have asked that Ford repudiate its relationship with this extremist group, reinstate its advertising of Jaguar and Land Rover and continue investing in organizations working for equality," Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. gay rights organization, said in a statement after the meeting.

While Ford said the ads were being pulled as a result of cost cutting, the perception that Ford agreed to anti-gay demands from the AFA has drawn protests from gay groups across the United States.

Ford has made no commitment to review its decision to drop the ads.

The automaker needs to clearly communicate to consumers the reason behind the decision, said Judy Phair, president of Public Relations Society of America and PhairAdvantage Communications, a Washington, D.C.-area marketing consulting firm.

"They have gotten caught in the cross-fire of a cultural battle," Phair said. "It's about cars, it's not about lifestyle choices, that's what they have to keep emphasizing."

Ford -- which is working with Washington D.C.-based public relations firm Whiteck-Combs Communications to navigate the issue -- is not the first company to come under fire over its stance on homosexuals.

Other large companies including Microsoft Corp. and Walt Disney Co. have also found themselves trying to appease groups on both sides of the cultural divide.

"Part of it has to do with increased polarization," Phair said, adding that gay rights is "a real hot-button issue."

The controversy comes at a bad time for Ford, which is in the middle of planning a restructuring strategy to turn around its money-losing North American vehicle operations.

Ford, which has seen its U.S. sales fall in all but two of the last 18 months, needs both conservative Christians and gay consumers to buy its vehicles, Dave Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, told Reuters.

"It's a typical Catch-22 situation," Cole said. "There is often no middle ground to work on and what Ford is trying to do is find that middle ground."

The AFA had called for a boycott of the automaker's vehicles in May, but suspended the move in June for six months after talks with Ford dealers, and now has ended it altogether.

"We value all people -- regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and cultural or physical differences," Ford Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr. said in a statement released after the meeting with gay rights groups.

Ford spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes said on Tuesday the company had no further comment.

"It's one of those kinds of situations where there is no place to win," Cole said.

Article

 

[zendari]

Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

 

[Legend]

That's hilarious.


I boycott Ford because their cars suck...

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

Sinful by who's standard? Frankly, I could care less what consenting adults do behind closed doors.

 

[Legend]

EatSpam, just let it go. People have talked to zendari about this topic like 500 times.

At this point, I get a laugh thinking that zendari jumps with joy when he reads something like this.

 

[Starbuck1975]

In all honesty, Ford should keep the advertising, when was the last time you saw a red state hick in a jag or land rover

Perhaps because they are overhyped pieces of crap...you are spending 20k on the car and 20k on the name...Ford essentially purchased the rights to a name, and let the snob effect of American consumerism do the rest.

Hicks may not drive Jag's or Land Rovers, but they certainly purchase Ford trucks...and who do you think the market demographic for Land Rover and Jaguar is...beyond celebrities, the next tier is wealthy white collar America, which does consist of many Republicans.

 

[sandorski]

Ahh, the Appeasement!

 

[morrisbj]

Originally posted by: Legend
That's hilarious.


I boycott Ford because their cars suck...

And yet Consumer reports shows them to be consistently the best American made cars and trucks on the road. You may not like them, but they hold up to time better than Dodge and Chevy.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: Stunt
Bad news for Ford either way. I think this approach by christian groups is just sickening...

In all honesty, Ford should keep the advertising, when was the last time you saw a red state hick in a jag or land rover 😉

But they do buy a lot of F-series trucks, which is still Ford's bread and butter.

I think the boycott is ridiculous, too.

 

[zendari]

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

Sinful by who's standard? Frankly, I could care less what consenting adults do behind closed doors.

By the AFA and families across the country.

 

[ntdz]

That's the most ludicrious thing I've ever heard, boycotting them for that? Give me a f*cking break.

Originally posted by: Legend
That's hilarious.


I boycott Ford because their cars suck...

:thumbsup: That's why I drive a GM 🙂

 

[conjur]

I, for one, hope the "Christians" keep this up.

Pretty soon, they'll die of starvation and cold as they'll have boycotted every company on the face of the earth.


Fvcking idiots.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: zendari

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

Sinful by who's standard? Frankly, I could care less what consenting adults do behind closed doors.

By the AFA and families across the country.

I thought sin had something to do with God(tm).

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: morrisbj

Originally posted by: Legend
That's hilarious.


I boycott Ford because their cars suck...

And yet Consumer reports shows them to be consistently the best American made cars and trucks on the road. You may not like them, but they hold up to time better than Dodge and Chevy.

I'd only consider GM cars after carefully researching the model. They have some great ones, and some duds.

Other American car companies may make some good cars, but in general they fall apart much sooner than Toyota and Honda.

My family had a Mercury Sable. It didn't last 7 years, 150k. Transmission went out on the highway, that was fun. It's last year, it was in the shop every fvcking month.

My brother had a Jeep Grand Cherokee for a year. 70k, excellent shape. One day, the brakes decide to lock up at about 40 mph for no reason. He crashes into a stone brick sign, the car was totaled, thankfully he wasn't.

All our other cars have been Hondas. With the exception of a Volvo, which lasted about 13 years, and a cadillac which lasted about 12. Not a single problem over 20 years with these cars. All real long term reports (not these new initial reliability scores, whatever the hell that means. If it's new and it doesn't work, it's not unreliable, it's defective) indicate that Toyota and Honda have the best reliability.




Edit: Consumer reports? Are you looking at new models? If you're looking at reliability, you should look at the ratings for a 10 year old model. That's what reliability is. You'll notice Ford's ratings go from excellent to average/poor after about 5 years age. On the other hand, Toyota/Honda and several GMs stay good-excellent much farther.

 

[Kadarin]

They are not "Christians" in that they are not embracing Christ's message. Instead, these are people that use quotes from the Bible to justify their percieved right to dictate sexual morality to everyone (something that theoretically only God should have the right to do).

 

[NJDevil]

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

How do you explain the free market's support of porn, gay porn, war, the death penalty, open businesses on the Sabbath, violent films, etc?

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: NJDevil

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

How do you explain the free market's support of porn, gay porn, war, the death penalty, open businesses on the Sabbath, violent films, etc?

Owned.

But it's useless, the guy is brainwashed.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: zendari

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

Sinful by who's standard? Frankly, I could care less what consenting adults do behind closed doors.

By the AFA and families across the country.

A**hole Freaks of America?

 

[techs]

I just feel the Christian love more and more this Christmas season, don't you?

 

[NJDevil]

Originally posted by: techs
I just feel the Christian love more and more this Christmas season, don't you?

But don't you dare use Happy Holidays because that's an offensive term.

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: techs
I just feel the Christian love more and more this Christmas season, don't you?

"Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war..." :roll:

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: zendari

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

Sinful by who's standard? Frankly, I could care less what consenting adults do behind closed doors.

By the AFA and families across the country.

Don't worry about the people in this thread, zendari. Jesus loves you, and shares you hatred of gay people.

 

[zendari]

Originally posted by: NJDevil

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

How do you explain the free market's support of porn, gay porn, war, the death penalty, open businesses on the Sabbath, violent films, etc?

What's there to explain? Some fringe consumers will always be in the demand for perverse products like gay porn.

Maybe these fringe consumers can replace the market share Ford loses by marketing in this fashion.

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: zendari

Originally posted by: NJDevil

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

How do you explain the free market's support of porn, gay porn, war, the death penalty, open businesses on the Sabbath, violent films, etc?

What's there to explain? Some fringe consumers will always be in the demand for perverse products like gay porn.

Maybe these fringe consumers can replace the market share Ford loses by marketing in this fashion.

The pornography industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Not a fringe industry, if you ask me.

 

[NJDevil]

Originally posted by: zendari

Originally posted by: NJDevil

Originally posted by: zendari
Great news! The free market will not tolerate endorsements of sinful behavior.

How do you explain the free market's support of porn, gay porn, war, the death penalty, open businesses on the Sabbath, violent films, etc?

What's there to explain? Some fringe consumers will always be in the demand for perverse products like gay porn.

Maybe these fringe consumers can replace the market share Ford loses by marketing in this fashion.

Way to focus on one of the things I mentioned. Do you not consider regular porn perverse? What about war? Is killing another human being less perverse than having private relations with someone?

You realize that hatred is a sin, right? There's plenty of that going around, even in some fringe "Christian groups." Do you think GOd approves of your hatred, or of "God hates fags" and similar slogans these anti-gay groups use?

How do you rationalize such hate and intolerance when the new testament preaches exactly the opposite of what you practice. I sure wish I had your selective reading comprehension; it would make my life easier.

Edit: Eatspam mentioned this above me, but porn is a 10 billion dollar a year industry. War making is over 100 billion a year (in Iraq and Afghanistan alone), over 1000 people have been put to death since the 70's by our government. These are all sinful behaviors, yet the free market supports them.

I really do hope the republican party tries to restrict sinful behavior ... the electoral results will be unprecedented.