Remember when the conservative Christian group, the American
Family Association (AFA), threatened to boycott Ford
Motors over their so-called “active support” of gay individuals or causes? The conservative group threatened to boycott
the manufacturer, which quickly ended when a Texas dealer promised to mediate between the two organizations.
Now some of the results of the meeting have been released. In brief, Ford (who is losing marketshare in the domestic
market), will be pulling their ads from gay-affiliated media such as magazines. (Exception: Volvo, which apparently the
AFA will allow to be as gay as it would like) Wherever it will comply with the AFA’s additional demand to stop
contributing to gay groups or events remains to be seen. The AFA stated it will still call on a boycott if Ford doesn’t
comply with their concerns.
This relationship between Ford, which still ranks as one of the largest automakers in the world, and a conservative
Christian group exposes just how vulnerable Ford is at the moment. If any group whose membership numbers in the tens or
hundreds of thousands can make demands of the Blue Oval and have them met, then we have to wonder who is actually in
charge of Ford.