What do you think of the A.F.A.'S recent attempts to get people to boycott an automobile manufacturer ?

Question

{If you don't have any idea of what I'm asking then you don't have any reason to answer unless U just want to score 2 pts., in which case your stupid answer will be regarded as such.}

If you do have a legit. opinion, I'ld like to hear it .
I'ld like to know what a persons sexuality has to do with the buying, selling, driving, owning, or building or advertising of cars ?
It might help ( but is not neccesary ) for me to understand your answers if you could state wether you are GLBT or not.

I think the boycott attempt is extremely hippocritical but I would like your honest answers and opinions.

Da_Ben_Dan-since I have no way to contact you I'd like to thank you for your honest answer. I am sorry that you feel the way you do about Ford, though. They have long supported you & now that they are being attacked because of their support, you are angry at them. It's OK to vent, but please don't turn your back.

Answer 1

I assume you're referring to Ford...and while I know that ford has since rescinded their original descision...for me the damage has been done...You are right to think that the boycott is hippocritcal!! To me what ford has essentially done is to slap me in the face and say that i am not good enought to try to entice to buy their product..so I won't! Even by suggesting this they have told me quite clearly that they do not value my patronage! The one thing in this life that will set me off is injustice...My father-in-law(I'm a gay married canadian) was a VIP for ford..and he would have been rolling over in his grave regarding this decision. He and his wife were more into gay rights than his son and I have ever been.....If afa or anybody else thinks that they can pull their ad money from a producer and not have a backlash..they are sadly mistaken.....Just suppose if chrysler had said 'well we won't advertise to latinos because afa asked not to.'..I say then go ahead and do whatever...because it's the big companies that will lose the business.. What a lot of people seem to forget is the buying power that gay people have (as opposed to people who choose to raise and pay for children).
I am really disappointed and hurt over ford's actions..they should have known better. There is absolutely nothing they can do to win me back as a customer..not even a free car would do it. Thanks for letting me vent!...and BTW I'm a GWM 57yrs old and I think that afa will ultimately lose it all because they seem to be such a stupid (as well as bigotted) organization.

Answer 2

It's amusing.

There are things those on the Religious Right are good at -- successful boycotts, particularly of quasi luxury goods -- not among them.

The reason for that is that the particular boycotts they tend to support are against someone or something that has a natural constituency -- thus, they simply increase the tendency of those being boycotted against to purchase in exchange for their own avoidance.

I've been involved in three boycotts in my life (I'm on the Left). I was in the Nestles boycott when they were using trickery to sell formula in Africa to poor women who ended up mixing it with river water -- which, as we understand it, led to many deaths among infants. I was in the grape boycott, when grape growers were misusing their workers and refusing union negotiation after the workers voted in a union. Lastly, I was in the Gap boycott, and had the honour of doing the research and writing the report that went to upwards of a dozen Episcopalian bishops in the US - when the Gap was hiring factories in free trade zones in El Salvador to produce its clothing using workers that to American sensitivities appeared very similar to slave workers.

Nestles stopped the business practice that led to the boycott and at one point issued an apology if memory serves -- but they definitely ended the business practice.

The Grape growers settled, although the settlement did not last and I think another boycott is looming.

Gap established an international human rights policy which they do enforce. They signed an agreement with the National Labor Committees and they have kept it.

Why did our boycotts work and Right wing ones fail? Because there are not people who will say "Oh, people are boycotting Gap because their suppliers use quasi slave labor -- well, I have to rush out and buy more Gap products to make up for it, cause I support slave labor...." It just isn't going to happen.

On the other hand, there are people who are going to say, and are saying "OK, we have to give an extra close look at Ford cars when we buy our next new one. They support us, we should support them." Not just gays, but people with gay family members and gay friends as well.

Kind regards,

Reynolds Jones
http://www.rebuff.org
[e-mail]

Answer 3

AFA's boycott means nothing. If their boycott is successful, they will only end up hurting the employees, some of whom are members of AFA. So by boycotting Ford the employees are putting themselves out fo a job.

And Ford's manufacturing of crappy vehicles are doing more to destroy the company than any boycott ever would. That's why I always buy Chevy.

Answer 4

I think that people that spend their time writing lenghty questions and answers such as these should just get on with their life and buy what ever kind of freaking car the want to.

GET OVER IT POEPLE!!

We are never going to change the wayt the world sees us or treats the GLBT community.

We just need to quit bitchin and get on with our lives.

Answer 5

Ford made a big mistake. Other manufacturers have realized how much money the gay community has to spend. (Two incomes without children)

Just look at the successes of Subaru and Volvo two very big supporters of the gay community.

Ford will suffer, the Gay community is very brand loyal.

Answer 6

Failed or Failing...as with other attempts from this hate-filled and bigoted organization to boycott other major businesses offering benefits to same-sex couples or GLBT individuals.

Equal Access to benefits isn't only fair, it's the just and prudent thing to do.

Best Wishes!

Answer 7

I don't know what you're talking about, but I'd like to. Could you send me a link to an article or something. thx