Ford won't budge on ads after meeting with gay leaders

[kweerwolf]

Ford Motor Co. issued a statement Monday night after meeting with gay leaders that reaffirms the automaker's commitment to diversity but stops short of reversing its decision to pull advertising from gay publications.

"We value all people regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and cultural or physical differences," Bill Ford, chair and CEO of Ford, said in the statement. "This is a historical commitment of the Ford Motor Company that I intend to carry forward."

<snip>

The Ford statement did not mention the advertising decisions or its support for gay organizations and events, but also did not back off from its previous public commitments to pull back on both.

<snip>

"The statement from Ford does not begin to address the issues we discussed in our meeting," said Giuliano. "It clearly shows that they do not have an understanding of our positions, nor are they willing to distance themselves, and specifically correct, the statements that have been made by the AFA."

http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=4018

[BR_Parkway]

1. Dumbasses - there are way more of us then there are of them

only a small, albeit loud, fraction of those who claim to be Christians in this country are of the bigotted, hate group that should really be called KKKristians. That's who you caved into Ford. Sure hope they can buy alot of your products, because your dark ages stance has moved you out of the limelight for the foreseeable future.

Ford, a Hasbeen motor company

[Kipling]

2. Equal rights are "A historical commitment of the Ford Motor Company"!?

Apart from it being founded by a raving anti-semitic Nazi...

[dusmcj]

3. the captains of industry culture of abuse failed several times already

labor kicked their ass, and they're currently dragging the country down the tubes under one of their scions, Doober. What a shame and a waste if Ford is going rightwing (again ?).

[Brian_Expat]

7. Speaking of Scions. . .

. . . compare the latest ones to Ford's shitty Focus. Scions are higher quality, cost less, come with more standard equipment, and are far more likely to be reliable over the long haul, long after the Ford is rusting in a junk heap.

[dusmcj]

8. be nice, I like my Focus

besides, isn't Scion a GM product ? What an alternative, politically speaking.

[Brian_Expat]

9. Focuses are nasty nasty in terms of reliability

And Scion is a Toyota product.

[dusmcj]

11. our focus subthread

mine is a 2002 US model with 50K miles, two failures so far: the master brake/clutch cylinder had a seal failure, and the rear door latches suffered the corrosion their recall predicted. Excellent car otherwise...

I think Ford is the only US automaker with "vision" which I translate as design ability; Chrysler is off in the weeds, although the infusion of MB technology is giving them a visible boost, and GM, well, every GM I've ever sat in didn't fit my ergonomics (slightly above average height and used to reclining seating with bent knees to the pedals and the wheel in my hand, instruments visible under wheel arc), aside from having a beet-red lamer as CEO and making cars with too much plastic fairing-stuff and primitive design.

Lest we veer off from the thread topic... Ford's design shop kicked ass for 20 years compared to the other American makers, and their quality was great too (my Escort's only failure in 90K was an oxygen sensor). If we infer that this is a manifestation of general enlightenment, then it's doubly sad to contemplate that the arrival of the family scion at the helm may be heralding a dimming of the lights... Say it ain't so...

[Ian David]

4. Part of a quid-pro-quo agreement with Bush for a government bail-out

Two Ford executives are former Bush administration officials who have been campaigning for the administration's conservative judges from their corporate offices.

Bush and The GOP made a deal with them that they have to soften their support for gay rights if they want to receive a government bail-out-- That's what folks are saying.

[Brian_Expat]

10. Intriguing angle. . .

. . . good thing I've always opposed corporate bailouts for private companies.

[Meldread]

5. One word: Boycott

That's all that needs to be said. Well, you could add smear campaign to that as well.

I wonder how much Ford would like it if LGBT people were to air, and draw attention to old Henry's ties to the Nazi's? I wonder how many people would love to buy a Ford then.

I could see a TV Ad campaign pointing out Henry Ford's ties to the Nazi's and ending with a cryptic phrase drawing a vague comparison to Ford's support of Nazism and their current policies. (We don't even have to bring the word gay up a single time.) "Ford Motor Company: The more times change, the more they stay the same."

[Lex]

6. Screw 'em.

Ford's not getting any of my money for certain.