Ford Advertising – steer to the right?

With a name like the “American Family Association” (AFA) one would believe this to be an organization concerned with family values, well-being, education, health and other things of concern within a home. The last thing one would expect, without being intimately familar with the groups agenda, is their impact and influence on commercialism in this country. In May of 2005 the Christian activist group called for its members (claimed to be 3 million plus) to support a boycott of the Ford Motor Company for its support of “diversity”. The AFA believes diversity is just a code word for homosexuality. The group complained that Ford had sponsored gay pride celebrations, advertised in gay-oriented publications and was “redefining the definition of the family to include homosexual marriage.” The AFA had even created a special website titled BoycottFord.com, which has since been taken down admist Ford’s response. What was Ford’s response? Soon after the heavily publicized AFA boycott edict, they “coincidentally” announced to cut backs in advertising for the Land Rover and Jaguar brands, claiming the two divisions were hemoraging money.

In fact this is nothing new for the AFA. The have boycotted virtually every major American corporation, from Wells Fargo most recently, to names such as WalMart, Microsoft, Carls Jr, and even a nine year boycott of Disney for its decision in the mid 1990’s to extend benefits to same-sex couples and promote gay-related events at its theme parks. Turns out Disney’s profits and theme park attendance actually rose every year during the boycott. They even boycotted Lowes home improvement stores for their use of the term “Home for the Holidays”, citing that the phrase was an attempt to remove “Christmas” from our society. In all of the boycotts the AFA clearly has a right-facing moral agenda, primarily dealing with the issues of sexuality – be it a racy ad featuring Paris Hilton eating a burger, or, as in the case of Ford, a major company’s support of diversity amongst their employees and their customer base.

While Ford is still trying to figure out how to align itself during this PR debacle, many who have faced similar repercussions from similar right-wing organizations are more inclined to stand up to the bullying whereas in the past the objective was to come out somewhere in the middle. Wells Fargo recently faced similar boycotts and refused to change it’s policies. They believe while some short term loss in sales could occur, far greater damage would be sustained by changing overnight the values the company has strived to establish. As Ford struggles to sell cars, profitability and other market-driven economic woes, what will determine whether it surivies the next 100 years is it’s ability to maintain straight ahead on-course for what it stands for rather than for what others want it to stand for.

“We value all people regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and cultural or physical differences,” said Bill Ford, chairman and chief executive officer. “This is a historical commitment of the Ford Motor Company that I intend to carry forward.”

In fact this is nothing new for the AFA. The have boycotted virtually every major American corporation, from Wells Fargo most recently, to names such as WalMart, Microsoft, Carls Jr, and even a nine year boycott of Disney for its decision in the mid 1990’s to extend benefits to same-sex couples and promote gay-related events at its theme parks. Turns out Disney’s profits and theme park attendance actually rose every year during the boycott. They even boycotted Lowes home improvement stores for their use of the term “Home for the Holidays”, citing that the phrase was an attempt to remove “Christmas” from our society. In all of the boycotts the AFA clearly has a right-facing moral agenda, primarily dealing with the issues of sexuality – be it a racy ad featuring Paris Hilton eating a burger, or, as in the case of Ford, a major company’s support of diversity amongst their employees and their customer base.

While Ford is still trying to figure out how to align itself during this PR debacle, many who have faced similar repercussions from similar right-wing organizations are more inclined to stand up to the bullying whereas in the past the objective was to come out somewhere in the middle. Wells Fargo recently faced similar boycotts and refused to change it’s policies. They believe while some short term loss in sales could occur, far greater damage would be sustained by changing overnight the values the company has strived to establish. As Ford struggles to sell cars, profitability and other market-driven economic woes, what will determine whether it surivies the next 100 years is it’s ability to maintain straight ahead on-course for what it stands for rather than for what others want it to stand for.

“We value all people regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and cultural or physical differences,” said Bill Ford, chairman and chief executive officer. “This is a historical commitment of the Ford Motor Company that I intend to carry forward.”