Autoblog

The American Family Association began a boycott of all Ford products back in March 2006 because it disagreed with Ford's marketing practices in gay-centric media outlets, as well as its policy of offering insurance benefits to same-sex couples. The Detroit News is reporting that the AFA has called off its righteous hounds, ending the boycott because it claims that after months of monitoring, Ford has finally met its conditions. (The thought of a homophobic group reading gay periodicals looking for Ford ads strikes us as extremely humorous.) On its website, the AFA alerts its members that, "Individuals are free to purchase Ford vehicles again."

In reality, Ford has done nothing to appease the AFA. It continues to offer benefits to same-sex couples and the only reason it has reduced or stopped advertising in gay pubs is because mounting losses in the U.S. have shrunk its marketing budget. The same goes for charitable donations to gay-related causes, there's just no money to spare during these hard times at Ford. The AFA even acknowledges that Ford has not really met its conditions, saying, "A few minor issues remain, and we will continue to bring these to the attention of Ford."

The AFA is taking credit for something it had nothing to do with and putting words in the Dearborn company's mouth, kind of like when the organization claimed that its boycott was the reason for Ford's sales slump in recent years. Yeah, it wouldn't have anything to do with a lineup that was overflowing with trucks and SUVs, increased competition from Japan, the high cost of health care, or any one of a hundred actually valid reasons.

NOTE: Thank you for the great comments on our last gay-related post. We'll reiterate that regardless of your views on homosexuality, please be civil in the comments (no swearing, no name calling, etc.) or else your comment will be deleted and you will immediately be banned from commenting on Autoblog in the future. Thanks!

[Source: AFA via The Detroit News]

The American Family Association began a boycott against Ford back in March 2006 (not its first one, mind you). The boycott stemmed from Ford's refusing to cave in to the AFA's demands, which included not only pulling its advertising from gay-centric media outlets, but also ending the practice of offering domestic-partner benefits to same-sex couples. Ford has done neither, and the boycott's been in effect for the last 19 months.

While it may be true that sales have been down at Ford during 17 of the last 19 months, including a big drop of 21% last month, we find the AFA taking credit, any credit really, for the slump to be absolutely insane. The AFA states on its website, "When the boycott began, "Ford was approximately in the same financial condition as that of General Motors and Chrysler. But because of the boycott, Ford is now in much more of a serious financial situation than GM and Chrysler." A huge reduction in fleet sales, increased competition, higher gas prices, a weak subprime lending market... all of these things are apparently inconsequential in the eyes of the AFA. Or perhaps it's that this organization believes withholding its collective purchasing power is just as harmful to Ford as legacy health care costs and the like.

The arrogance in the AFA's statements is truly shocking, and we should mention to Ford that it's probably doing the right thing by ignoring the organization. The gay community represents a huge block of purchasing power, as is evident by the success of such sites as gaywheels.com, which compiles a list of automakers that are gay friendly, as well as ones that don't make the cut.

[Source: American Family Association]