THIS is Why Conservative Christians Get a Bum Rap!

Published on December 14, 2005 By Gideon MacLeish In Current Events

OK, so here's the scenario: Seems that Ford Motor Company, in order to sell luxury cars, posted a few ads in gay themed magazines. Trying to sell some cars, and going where the market lies, right? (statistically speaking, homosexual couples would at least seemingly have more dispensary income as they often don't have children to care for, so they would be a good bet to target with luxury car ads, or so I would think).

Not so fast. The conservative Christian watchdog groups called for a boycott of Ford because of their "promotion of homosexuality", and Ford pulled the ads. Now, the gay rights groups are threatening a counter boycott to bring back the ads, and the whole thing has gotten out of hand.

Excuse me? PROMOTION of homosexuality? Seems to me all Ford was trying to do was sell a few cars, and if they found some licensed drivers among lower primates, might just as well hae advertised in "Monkeyshines Monthly".

Now, I admit, sometimes the boycotts that these companies call for point out some rather disturbing facts about a company's practices. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and in this case, I see nothing wrong with Ford's practice of buying ad space in gay magazines. The gay magazines serve a specific market, just as any magazine does, and all a Christian has to do to avoid exposure to that point of view is NOT BUY THEM! You won't find them on the shelves of a lot of stores in mainstream America, frankly.

Which leads us to the final question: How exactly DID our conservative Christian friends discover these ads? SOMEONE out there must have a subscription!

Comments (Page 1)

Jamie Burnside

on Dec 14, 2005

I already feel safer knowing that activist groups are protecting us from evil influences.

How dare Ford pander to a target demographic in order to move product!

Texas Wahine

on Dec 14, 2005

All the car commercials here feature Asians and Pacific Islanders.

It's marketing.

I just wonder what would happen if all the energy and money and time expended to protect us from an obscure gay-oriented car ad or any of the bazillion other morality crisis cause of the days was spent imitating Christ and doing good works?

Gideon MacLeish

on Dec 14, 2005

I just wonder what would happen if all the energy and money and time expended to protect us from an obscure gay-oriented car ad or any of the bazillion other morality crisis cause of the days was spent imitating Christ and doing good works?

I still wonder how they got ahold of those ads in the first place. I've never seen any of these gay magazines precisely because I don't are to, and if they're perusing them, doesn't that say something about THEIR spiritual condition?

But yeah, what you said was basically my point.

Dr Guy

on Dec 14, 2005

Which leads us to the final question: How exactly DID our conservative Christian friends discover these ads? SOMEONE out there must have a subscription!

Who has the largest collection of pornography in the world? The Vatican. They have the subscription for the exact same reason. To keep track of what the "evil" people are doing.

But like the Disney boycott, this one will go nowhere as well. That is why I dont get upset over them.

AvantiTexan

on Dec 14, 2005

SOMEONE out there must have a subscription!

ummm....it's not me....ummm...ahem....

TX

Right on. Sadly there are many "Christians" that would boycott Jesus if he were alive today. Who he ate with, who he hung out with, don't see many Christians sharing Christmas dinner with any homosexuals thesedays, do you?

Dr Guy

on Dec 14, 2005

Sadly there are many "Christians" that would boycott Jesus if he were alive today. Who he ate with, who he hung out with, don't see many Christians sharing Christmas dinner with any homosexuals thesedays, do you?

Sadly is a very good term for that irony.

Myrrander

on Dec 14, 2005

Yeah, I got mail on this from the Southern Baptist Convention the other day. I wrote them back telling them how happy I was that the problems of world hunger, war, child sexual slavery, and environmental degradation had been solved, freeing up time for trivial matters such as who appears in a Ford advertisement.

dharmagrl

on Dec 14, 2005

I was watching a Ford commercial last night about how they're all about 'innovation'. I thought it rather ironic...that at the same time they're claiming to be moving ahead, they're bowing to pressure from a conservative christian group and withdrawing their ads from certain publications. It got me so heated that I actually started yelling at the TV.

bakerstreet

on Dec 14, 2005

Am I the only one that remembers having a discussion on this like a year ago? At least 6 months ago. Granted GLAAD is gonna bang its little drum about it all they can, but still. If the site search worked I'd find it. It was one of the "names" around here that wrote about it, I think.

Anyway, it's no different than any other group boycotting. They aren't sueing, they aren't trying to pass some law to silence them, they're just 'voting with their dollars'. It's no more wrongful than any other type of boycott, and a lot more reasonable than many taken by gay and lesbian organizations.

If this were Jesse Jackson he'd be following up the boycott with a demand for a cash settlement. I find it strange that a Libertarian would have a problem with this kind of act. All they are doing is opting not to do business.

"Which leads us to the final question: How exactly DID our conservative Christian friends discover these ads? SOMEONE out there must have a subscription!"

If I recall, since this is such OLD news, Ford got some sort of public award from GLAAD about being "brave" enough to market $60,000 Jaguars in their magazine. There's a bold step, advertising one's product. I'd have to say that GLAAD brought it on themselves by portraying an ad in a magazine as a big pro-gay social statement.

bakerstreet

on Dec 14, 2005

Here's the, um, article about it...

I SUPPORT AFA'S Ford Boycott by Gideon MacLeish, on 6/14/2005???

I'm confused, Gid...

It was a response article to: The American Family Association Has Completely Lost It by Philomedy on 6/2/2005. This isn't just 6 month-old news, oddly enough it is news that Gid must have forgotten about and then rediscovered taking a whole new stance. I guess every so often we need to slam the Christians to stay in "moderate" shape...

Demosthenes Locke

on Dec 14, 2005

Baker, although your complaint is on point, there is a subtle difference between the direction of this one and the prior. Gid's point previously was that he supported the right to "vote with their wallets."

He doesn't counter that here, but is attacking the premise by which they are voting with their wallets. The premise being that Ford advertising its product in a gay magazine is a promotion of homosexuality.

bakerstreet

on Dec 14, 2005

DL: Granted, but a Libertarian is usually not the one to start picking people apart for doing something that is within their rights to do, especially if it isn't infringing on anyone else's. Ford can continue their program, and the AFA folks can buy cars from whoever they like, and no one is doing anything but minding their own business.

Ford DID donate money to Gay and Lesbian causes. That money came from people who bought cars from them, and if you didn't want that money to be coming from your pocket, you opted not to by Ford producs. That seems as sound as any reason to boycott a company.

If the AFA decides to boycott Ford, it no different than Greenpeace boycotting nations who whale. Both are subjective moral values, and both are indirect ways of expressing their distaste. As I said, GLAAD made this stink to begin with by portraying Ford as "gay friendly". It wasn't the AFA that made that designation, it was the gay organizations that pinned it on Ford.

To quote Gid:

"But when they jump on their bandwagon and lampoon the right for their boycott while doing the same thing, well, that's called "hypocrisy", right?"

Deference

on Dec 14, 2005

Ah, special interest groups, PACS, lobbyists, unions - some great things happen when people band together, eh?

I don't think this is any particular smear on 'Christian Conservatives' in fact, I'm certain that the members of this group wear this achievement as a badge of honor and receive hails from their supporters.

It's good to see that some people are active in changing their America - that I like. Considering what cause one is supports becomes the litmus test for that individual to yell jeers or cheers.

I understand it's not a big deal for many people that some companies seek advertising in niche venues others find abhorrent, their advertising in 'gay' magazines certainly doesn't seem to be a large problem for me, but to them they are simply seeking to curtail the influence of 'gay' customers.

Some will say 'who cares' and those people have obviously missed the boat.

On the flipside, there will be gay lobbyists with political agendas and some of those same people who say "who cares?" to this incident might possibly be outraged at the pride march occuring within their community.

Just the way things work, but I'm happy that citizens are involved one way or the other.

Now come on people, can we become united on the privacy issue facing our contemporary society that is under attack by our representatives and government?

bakerstreet

on Dec 14, 2005

Deference: it isn't just advertising:

"AFA launched a website documenting the company's track record of support for the homosexual agenda through donations to pro-homosexual groups, sponsorship of events during "gay pride" events, and requiring managers to attend diversity training on how to promote the acceptance of homosexuality." -Link

.

Ford donated money to GLAAD and took other steps that the AFA considered "promoting homosexuality". Agree or not, as a customer of Ford, you'd be indirectly contributing money to GLAAD yourself. It's no different than any other boycott, really.

The thing is, I remember reading that the AFA was planning on canceling this months ago. I decided to go back and check the old articles, and sure enough, this was only a 6 month boycot and it was over a couple of weeks ago. From the link above:

"Pro-Family Group Cancels Boycott of Ford Motor Co. December 1, 2005"

So, Gid supported it during the months it was on, and now that it has been over for a couple of weeks, NOW he wants to start talking trash about "Conservative Christians" and omitting half the story? They didn't just boycott because of an ad, it was for a lot of other steps Ford had taken. Sorry if I seem jaded, but this looks like showboating to me.

I'm not gonna make another blog about it or throw a fit, but this is just the kind of thing that annoys me about blogs these days. It's like people hear something and have to rush to "take a stand" on it. Evidently it happens so much we forget we already commented on it 6 months ago, and even forgot how we felt about it. I mean come on, the boycott was over two weeks ago, for heaven's sake.

To quote Gid:

"...it's Ford's money, and they can spend it as they wish.

And I can spend MINE as I wish...and AFA can spend theirs as THEY wish...free country, ya know"

Ionolast

on Dec 14, 2005

no one is doing anything but minding their own business.

Really?

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