Boycott Ford!!!

What the fuck year is this anyway? This is unbelievable!

The antigay American Family Association claimed a cultural victory on Thursday and called off its threatened boycott of Ford Motor Co. On Friday, Ford spokesman Mike Moran confirmed to Advocate.com that the company will stop advertising its Jaguar and Land Rover brands in gay publications but insisted it was strictly a business decision.

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Threatened with a boycott by the Mississippi-based AFA, Ford and some of its dealers agreed to negotiate, and the AFA announced in June that it would hold off on its planned action. On Thursday, AFA announced the boycott would be canceled altogether.

"They've heard our concerns; they are acting on our concerns. We are pleased with where we are," said Donald Wildmon, AFA’s chairman, in a statement. "Obviously there are still some small matters of difference, as people will always have, but generally speaking, we are pleased with the results—and therefore the boycott that had been suspended [is] now officially ended."

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When first contacted, Ford spokesman Moran referred Advocate.com to the AFA statement, suggesting that the company had no disagreement with Wildmon's assertions. In a second conversation he confirmed that the company would no longer advertise Jaguar and Land Rover products in the gay media, saying that the decision was strictly "business."

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The AFA has said it reserves the right to reinstate the boycott if it feels Ford has not met its expectations.

We can play this game, too. And I bet a lot more gays and liberals buy Land Rovers and Jaguars than the crackers that support Wildmon.

UPDATE:

Gene Stone, at HuffPo, has a good take on all this.

Homophobia is an interesting policy for a company started by Henry Ford, one of Hitler’s strongest supporters in America, and one the country’s most outspoken anti-Semites. Ford was the author of such books as: "The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem," which were distributed through Ford's car dealerships.

This bit of unhappy news comes at a time when Ford is in deep financial trouble, closing its plants and desperately trying to restructure the company. Interesting that the company seems to have decided that gays don’t buy Fords, or that the gay market, far bigger than the AFA market, isn’t worth holding on to. Also interesting that the company has decided its future lies in its past, in its gone-but-not-forgotten policies of discrimination and bias.

Most Americans are not familiar with the company’s shameful history, but now they have to chance to catch up. So far, the mainstream media has ignored the story, but many gay organziations and websites, from Datalounge.com to Americablog.com, are talking about ogranizing their own boycott.