Ford Motor Company needs to change its slogan. The "Built Ford Tough" tagline no longer applies after it was reported this week that the giant automaker apparently caved in to the antigay American Family Association and agreed to no longer advertise its Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles in gay publications. While a business is certainly free to spend its advertising dollars as it sees fit, this incident is eerily similar to Microsoft's capitulation to Christian conservatives earlier this year when it reneged on support for legislation in Washington state that would have banned discrimination against gays once a fundamentalist minister threatened to boycott the software giant. In Ford's case, the AFA also threatened a boycott, and withdrew the call after meeting with Ford officials and presumably getting a pledge from Ford regarding its advertising practices. On its Web site, AFA founder Donald Wildmon said representatives from the group had a series of meetings with Ford officials "several times in the last several months."
"They've heard our concerns; they have responded, we think, in a very positive way," Wildmon added.
Apparently, the AFA was able to enlist the aid of unnamed Ford dealers in its antigay crusade. "The dealers were very helpful in bridging the gap and opening up lines of communications between AFA and Ford," Wildmon stated. "The dealers are basically our kind of people who share many of our concerns."
Well, we know what that means. With a wink and a nod, Ford crumbled to the fundies.
Ford, of course, denies any existence of a secret deal, as several gay rights groups have charged. And company spokesman Mike Moran told the Associated Press this week that the company made clear to the AFA that it would continue its policies recognizing the rights of its gay employees. Ironically, those policies led the Human Rights Campaign to give Ford a perfect score of 100 in its just-released consumer guide. Talk about bad timing.
At any rate, it's clear to us that these antigay groups still enjoy inordinate influence over major companies to convince them to discriminate, and that's a shame. We drive cars too, and as Jeff Stoltman, a Wayne State University marketing professor, told the Detroit Free Press , "If [Ford] were trying to avoid a boycott, they raise a strong possibility of a boycott from another direction."
Bank stands up for fairness
Another company also made headlines this week, though in an entirely different way. Wells Fargo Bank, based in San Francisco, did not blink when the antigay Focus on the Family announced it was closing its accounts and moving its money to a bank in Nebraska. The stated reason for the switch? It seems that Focus on the Family just discovered that Wells Fargo, as part of its giving program, donates money to gay groups, to the tune of about $2 million annually. This isn't a new practice; the bank has long been involved in charitable giving – to virtually all communities, as San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty so aptly noted. The bank has no plans to change its policies for corporate giving.
"Wells Fargo has been a champion of public education and is lauded for being a good corporate citizen," Dufty told us Tuesday. The bank has made numerous donations to LGBT groups over the years, as well as Asian American, African American, and Latino organizations. The bank donated $15,000 to Mission High School, among numerous other contributions.
"They are involved across the board," Dufty said, adding he believes Wells Fargo takes a balanced approach in its giving programs.
Focus on the Family's hysterical reaction to a donation to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (which triggered the decision to close its Wells Fargo accounts) is myopic and is a prime example of the organization's true purpose. It's not to focus on families , but to go after gays and lesbians with a vengeance.
"They are so far out of the mainstream," Dufty said of Focus on the Family. The contributions from Wells Fargo have helped families, by helping nonprofits that serve residents in all communities.
Thom Lynch, executive director of the LGBT Community Center, noted that Wells Fargo has been an "amazing supporter" of the center. This year, the bank announced a $50,000 matching gift campaign in support of the center's work. Lynch said the campaign ends at the end of the year, a few short weeks away. So far, the center has not yet matched the grant. Interested people can visit www.sfgaycenter.org/donate.php to both support the center and send a message that the community supports companies that support us.