The American Family Association has announced the end of its two and a half year long boycott of FoMoCo. OneNewsNow.com, which is owned by the AFA, brings glad tidings of the boycotts success in keeping Ford a good, old fashioned, bigoted company. Ford no longer gives cash incentives to homosexual groups based on the purchase of a vehicle, it has ceased to make corporate donations to homosexual organizations that engage in political or social campaigns promoting civil unions or homosexual marriage, it has stopped giving cash and vehicle donations or endorsements to homosexual social activities such as Homosexual Pride parades, and it no longer buys ads on homosexual web sites and homosexual media outlets. The AFA credits the 780,000 who signed the "Boycott Ford" petition with bringing about a change in Fords corporate philosophy. "During the time the boycott was going on, Ford averaged a drop of eight percent in sales each month," says AFA founder Don Wildmon. "Was the boycott entirely responsible for that? No, but it did play a significant role." Forbes quotes Ford sources as saying the automaker had "decreased overall charitable spending and advertising in recent years because of financial losses" and "its principles haven't changed and that it is committed to treating everyone fairly."
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
Ford is capable of causing a decline in its sales all by itself, without any help from the AFA…
The company has been busy proving that one for the past couple of years.
only in America … uugh-aaagh
So who wants to start a boycott of Ford until they start back up with all their gay-loving festivities?
I think Ford still gives full benefits to domestic partners. Pretty gay friendly if you ask me. I wouldnt call this as Ford backing down. Does anyone really think that the AFA has any significant impact on Ford sales whatsoever? If I were Ford I would probably be more inclined to continue to advertise in gay publications as the gay population is probably more affluent than the backwoods, bible thumping, home-schooled roster of the AFA?
Sales of the official vehicle of the AFA, the Dodge Caliber, will be plummeting now.
Silly little fairy…
Alright! Thousands of prior-Ford employed Americans are now without jobs! Good job, early 18th century throwbacks.
If you mouse over the word “Ford” in the 4th line of this post, an ad for the Edge pops up with a bunch of words in the background (what the words are supposed to signify, I don’t know) one of which is ‘rainbow’
Not that I didn’t already know that the AFA is a group of hilariously ignorant bigots who think they speak for every single family in America.. but this is rediculous.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with the cash incentives given out. That seems to be just a bit too much like special treatment.
However, boycotting FoMoCo for donations they made? C’mon…
Just think, if the AFA had held out a little longer and Ford had declared bankruptcy, they could have claimed total victory. Not that their position/advocacy indicates any semblance of rational thought, but did they really think that this boycott was causing Fords massive and well-documented problems?
Its america, boycott who you will. Ford also has the “women in pink” program as they suck up to women with their “breast cancer awareness” bs. Look at the Ford website and look under “our values”. Minority and women suppliers get preferential treatment. Special week long worksops for latinos. I thought we were supposed to be treated equal, Ford? I boycotted them long before the homo thing. My neighbor, whom I bought my trucks from told me a little secret. If I was african american I received an extra discount off my vehicle purchase. Dont know if its still going on, But if Ford ever wants me back they better treat every customer the same. Looks like white males dont matter as much to Ford as others. I will take my money elsewhere.
Ford did not relent on their benefits policy for same sex couples but they did stop advertising in gay publications. However, it seems that was part of a greater cutback in advertising spending rather than giving in to the AFA.
At this point a boycott of gay friendly companies is a bit like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500 – the majority of companies do it so I think that issue may be history.
Edward N. + Others….can we all just stop this Ford bankruptcy / chapter 11 talk as something implied to happen in the next 2-3 years. Wishful thinking perhaps ?
I hate to break it to you but Ford has a significant chuck of cash (albeit highly leveraged) to burn through before bankruptcy is even close to part of the equation.
Now—five years from on if Ford has not solved their problems you may have your wish.
Anyone else notice the irony of the court judgement today opening Ford up to BILLIONS upon BILLIONS for Ford Exploder death court cases now surely coming as the next sunrise?
So much for Ford’s “significant chuck of cash”.
Maybe Ford could cut the auto guys out there a bit of a break and sell off their 34% of Mazda and sell off Volvo, so when Chapter 7 comes along, “something worthwhile” survives.
Nothing lasts forever. FoMoCo – 1903 to 2009 RIP?
Why do I think “Ford’s done – stick a fork in it”?
Because even if Ford shut down their US operations to bankruptcy, surely the people like “rolloverlawyers.com” or whomever, will be going after Ford monies stashed in Europe, China, Japan (via Mazda), etc.
Bye bye Ford. Thanks for the lovely memories of my first car – a 1975 Ford Pinto. Being the slow learner I was, I tried several more Fords until finally wising up and buying Toyondai.
The only down side is the plight of the workers.
menno: “The only down side is the plight of the workers.”
I’m sure all of the Ford workers across the globe appreciate your compassionate gesture recognizing their plight:)
Umterp85: I was just having a laugh at the expense of the boycotters. I don’t think the blue oval is headed for the big assembly line in the sky just yet, but if they did it would be hilarious to see the AFA say it was their/Gods punishment. Y’know, like when Falwell blamed 9/11 and Katrina on Americas tolerance for homosexuality… only easier to laugh at.
So that’s why Ford’s sales have tanked. Now that the boycott is lifted that should be good for how many additional sales?
The boycott did give notice to Ford’s core customers that Ford’s corporate values include taking their current customers for granted. It would be like Al-Jazerra advertising in Danish newspapers.
I know a lot of people who have negative feelings towards Ford over this issue. Whether it cost them sales is hard to say, but the whole issue is an example of how horribly Ford Motor Company has been managed the last 10-15 years.
Perhaps there would be a way for Ford to completely divest itself of it’s non-North American operations, such as selling out to Renault and Nissan, then letting Ford NA go Chapter 7 in North America, in order to save “something” of Ford’s long legacy, and “most” jobs.
I’m willing to bet that there was a lot of lights on in Dearborn until early this morning, with the billions of dollars now potentially going to blow away in the wind.
What’s also significant about the judicial finding is that it affects all OTHER car companies worldwide who wish to sell vehicles here.
To make a long story short, “nobody” can “hide” behind the fact that a vehicle passes Federal Requirements when being sued, any more. It’s no longer a defense. This went all the way to the US Supreme Court and then was passed down a level for a binding decision, which did happen.
Personally, I am of two minds about it since now there is no way that car companies can be anything like assured that they can’t simply be sued out of existance by a minor screw-up somewhere in the supplier-chain, and this especially is dangerous (in my humble opinion) for the 2.8 and Chinese auto manufacturers (who are lacking quality and experience).
So while this might be a way for the US to scare off many Chinese auto companies who might wish to sell in North America, (and I have to wonder if some of that thought process went into the decision), the “unintended consequences” are possibly going to be the loss of Ford, Chrysler and GM.
But huzzah! – the sheister lawyers (“redundancy”, I know) will be rich!
Whoops sorry for the double post. I forgot to mention that, yes, taxman100 has a good point. I have heard that a very large proportion of pickup trucks being traded in for Toyotas in Texas, are used Fords. It was initially the Texas Ford dealers who pushed so hard for FoMoCo to pull out of the “culture wars” by sending so much money to homosexual causes.
Car companies should be neutral in things like this and simply spend their time designing and building the best cars and trucks they can, and marketing them without favor to all. Potentially offending a portion of 70% of the public for a stab at a portion of 2% of the market is just plain dumb, no ifs ands or buts. (whoops, sorry).
Ford has a large chuck of cash?
Uh huh…yeah right!
Where did they get it?
They put up the ENTIRE company assets to get a multi-billion dollar loan to stave off bankruptcy.
Ford’s current cash on hand figure, if I recall, is currently 31 billion dollars or so.
Ford continues to lose money in the US, which offsets any profits from Europe and Australia.
So…that begs the question…where will Ford get the money to pay off that loan?
The Edge ad someone mentioned…the ad says some BS about never being lost for words.
What that has to do with an Edge, only Ford knows.
Here’s four words Ford has lost: No sales, no profits!
780000 Signatures? WOW, well NOW we know where all Fords sales went! Now that the ban is lifted, think of all the sales Ford will be getting right away! All their sales MUST have gone to imports too , since they haven’t gone to any other domestic automaker. Soon the crazies will be coming out of the woodwork to save Ford, YAY. Ford management must be kicking themselves after realizing the sheer number of sales lost to the AFA ban.
/sarcasm off