Pro-family groups claim boycott success

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, April 19, 2005

[JohnHuang2]

Claiming success, pro-family groups called off a boycott on Procter & Gamble that was prompted by the Cincinnati-based corporation's "support for the homosexual agenda."

The American Family Association, with backing from Focus on the Family and others, garnered nearly 400,000 signatures on a pledge to stop buying some of the corporation's signature products, including Crest toothpaste.

"Judging by all we found in our research, it appears that our concerns have been addressed," said Donald Wildmon, AFA's chairman.

Based on AFA's monitoring, Wildmon said P&G has stopped sponsoring homosexual Internet sites and TV programs such as "Will and Grace."

According to AFA, P&G was the leading sponsor of "programming that normalized homosexuality," paying more than $8.2 million in only six months to shows such as "Will and Grace" and $2 million to "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

P&G spokeswoman Vicky Mayer told WorldNetDaily the company is "pleased to learn the AFA has suspended their actions."

"P&G has always been focused on serving our consumers and that's where our focus remains," she said.

Did the boycott affect P&G?

"Well, I really, the only thing I can say is our advertising guidelines remain unchanged," Mayer said. "We have one of the most conservative guidelines in the industry. We stick with our guidelines. So that remains unchanged."

Mayer insisted there has been no change in policy.

"In reality, the absence of P&G advertising on the 'Will and Grace' show is due to either the episode did not meet our content guidelines or we decided not to buy ads" for a certain time, she said. "... We stand by our guidelines as we continue to adjust media purchases and ad copy to reflect our consumer preferences."

So, was there an adjustment made within the context of "consumer preferences"?

Mayer said she couldn't answer that, but offered, "We are always reviewing our consumer viewing patterns and preferences -- what it is our consumers prefer and what they're viewing."

AFA also complained the company had sponsored "gay pride" parades and workshops advocating acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, which they required their employees to attend. In addition, the company gave $10,000 to a campaign last fall to overturn a Cincinnati law barring special rights to homosexuals.

Mayer defended P&G's support of the campaign, pointing out the company was one of many sponsors.

"P&G is a good corporate citizen, and P&G, along with major corporations in the city, decided it was dileterious to our recruiting," she said.

Mayer said the city policy is offensive to young people.

"Not that all of them were gay, it's just that young professionals are really turned off by that type of narrow thinking -- disregarding rights, everyone's rights really."

The AFA's Tim Wildmon told WND he has evidence from an unnamed source inside Procter & Gamble that the boycott was taken seriously at the highest levels of management.

Responding to Wildmon's claim, Mayer said: "Of course, we take seriously any group of consumers that want to boycott our products. We are reasonable people, and we would like to know what our consumers are concerned about."

Tim Wildmon believes the boycott might have had a small impact on sales, but, moreover, "Anything like this is not good for their image."

Also, he said, the company might have been motivated by the potential for the boycott growing, noting AFA has more than 2 million names on its mailing list.

As WorldNetDaily reported, last fall, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson urged listeners of his daily radio program to stop buying two of the company's best-known products, Tide laundry detergent and Crest toothpaste.

The family advocate said that while the company did not explicitly endorse same-sex marriage, its statements and policies communicated the notion that restricting marriage to one man and one woman is discriminatory.

At the time, Procter & Gamble insisted it "has not supported gay marriage. The definition of marriage is a subject that will be debated and decided by voters."

But AFA pointed out Citizens to Restore Fairness, the group advocating special rights for homosexuals, was chaired by Gary Wright, an employee of P&G on a leave of absence to lead the campaign. Wright also headed P&G's corporate homosexual group GABLE/P&G.

AFA said P&G wrote to employees, encouraging support for the company's efforts.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

"P&G spokeswoman Vicky Mayer"

... is clearly a world-class weasel.