Ford's Big Gay Problem

Too bad Ford can't layoff 30,000 gay employees; it probably wouldn't make a big difference in sales right now.

Ford, formerly a powerhouse American automaker, announced this week that they would be caving to the American Family Association (AFA) demands to stop advertising to gays. As I write this I am actually getting more pissed off. It seems so idiotic that I can't really get my head around it.

For anyone who hasn't been paying attention, back in June AFA called for all good Christians to boycott Ford (and Ford Motor Corp) vehicles because Ford is “the company which has done the most to affirm and promote the homosexual lifestyle." The basic problem from AFA's point of view is that Ford has homosexual-targeted ads for their Land Rover and Jaguar brands, and offers to donate $1,000 to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for every vehicle sold to a GLAAD member. Right now I don't see the big problem with a donation to an anti-defamation group, but I guess I'm not a good Christian.

In any case, Ford, who needs every single sale they can find (they are seriously bleeding money in the USA - $1.4 billion in losses through Oct), decided that they didn't want to fight the membership of AFA and would instead fight the entire gay and lesbian community of the USA. I don't know, this seems kind of bad for Ford. This decision was made mid-week and as far as I can tell there is currently no official word from Ford (press time: 23:09 GMT Friday, Dec. 9). No spin, no nothin.' If you're going to do something as radical as give in to a bunch of right wing hate mongers, you'd better have a pretty good line to explain to the people you're stabbing in the back, why you are doing exactly that.

I do not, in theory, have a problem with the AFA trying these tactics. Everyone is allowed to be bigoted, rascist, sexist, etc. I may not agree with their viewpoints, but they are allowed to try to use their own money or power [in whatever legal means possible] to change things that they would like for their profit. That's the essence of the first amendment of the US Constitution. However, the fact that Ford does not have the balls to stand up to these people and say, "We will put our advertising money where we would like to, thank you very much for your concern," bodes very poorly for them. It's bad enough that the religious fringe is running the White House; however, this I can do very little to change (except wait for Nov. 2008), but I can refuse to benefit a company that has shown its true colors.

I'm incapable of organizing any sort of boycott, nor am I interested in it. But I do request that anyone who is in the market for a car think twice about what Ford has done before making a purchase. If you can live with it, good for you - I won't.

UPDATE:
I missed this when I first wrote the above piece. Ford has been anything but mum on this. They released the following statement on Dec. 7th (I'm sorry I doubted them...):

FORD STATEMENT ON DIVERSITY AND ADVERTISING
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Dearborn , Mich. , Dec. 7 – Ford's commitment to diversity as an employer and corporate citizen remains unchanged. We have employment policies that are second to none regarding our commitment to inclusion. Any suggestion to the contrary is just plain wrong.
Advertising decisions for all our brands are driven strictly by a business case, including Volvo, which has decided to market directly to the gay and lesbian community.
Dec 7, 2005