Posted on 12/06/2005 11:57:39 AM PST by BurbankKarl
DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. said on Tuesday that its luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands will no longer advertise in gay publications, but denied that the nation's second largest automaker made the decision under pressure from conservative Christian groups.
"The decisions with regard to advertising was a business decision," Ford spokesman Mike Moran said. He said Ford's Volvo brand would continue advertising in gay publications. Ford hasn't advertised its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands in those publications, Moran added.
Moran said Jaguar and Land Rover, which are part of Ford's money- losing Premier Automotive Group, have decided to cut back on their advertising everywhere because of difficult market conditions. The Premier Automotive Group reported a pretax loss of $108 million in the third quarter.
"They feel pressure on their marketing budgets, so they decided to streamline marketing across the board," Moran said. "They're not supporting as many publications and events as before in 2006."
Moran refused to say how much Ford has spent advertising in gay publications such as The Advocate, a biweekly magazine. Mercedes-Benz was advertising on the Advocate's Web site on Tuesday.
Ford's move came nearly a week after the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association canceled a boycott of Ford vehicles that began in May, when the group criticized Ford for being too gay-friendly.
"We are ending the boycott of Ford," association Chairman Donald Wildmon said in a statement Wednesday on the group's Web site. "While we still have a few differences with Ford, we feel that our concerns are being addressed in good faith and will continue to be addressed in the future."
The American Family Association first announced the boycott against Ford and related brands on May 31. The group said Ford gave thousands of dollars to gay rights groups, offered benefits to same-sex couples and actively recruited gay employees.
After a spring meeting with a group of Ford dealers, the association said in June that it was suspending its boycott until at least the beginning of December.
The Human Rights Campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and other gay rights groups expressed concern about reports there was a secret deal between Ford and the American Family Association to end Ford's advertising in gay media.
"If there is an agreement with AFA, we expect Ford to disavow it. We expect Ford to publicly reaffirm its historic support for our community. And, we expect Ford to meet with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) representatives this week to resolve these concerns," the groups said in the statement, which was posted Monday on the Human Rights Campaign Web site.
Moran said the decision was not linked to the boycott.
"We have no confidential agreement with the AFA," he said.
Moran said Ford made it clear at meetings with the American Family Association that the company would continue its policies recognizing the rights of its gay employees.
Ford is proud of its nondiscrimination policies, Moran said. "Those policies will not change," he said.
In May, the American Family Association ended a nine-year boycott of The Walt Disney Co. over Disney's decision to extend benefits to same- sex couples and promote gay-related events at its theme parks. The boycott appeared to have little effect, since Disney reported higher earnings and increased theme park attendance during that time.
Ford shares rose 7 cents to $8.13 in early trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
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I guess they're going to focus on the Ford Probe for those publications.
C'Mon Ford. Ya gotta be creative. Just re-badge the Land Rover as the Man Rover and viola yer back in biznizz...
R3
The free market in action. Businesses will always go where the money is. The same tactics are available to gays--they can boycott Ford, too.
Although I hear the more expensive models still offer the expected experience as well as the expected maintenance nightmares.
Who's got the pic of two jaguar hood ornaments humping?
Correct, and this sort of targeted lifestyle advertising is not necessarily effective for major corps anyway as there are so many specialty ad vehicles where interested parties will go anyway. Targeting the gay community can work in large urban centers with concentrated gay population areas for retailers and food and beverage products, but this becomes less a loyalty builder than when the community is just finding its feet and voice. If it's going to cause a backlash in the larger market it just isn't worth it, and only the most emotionally driven buyers will consider it an issue all things being equal.
Gays looking for cars will buy auto mags just like anyone else. It's not a whimsical purchase. They might lean toward a particular store or product due to perceived gay friendly company behavior (beer was the classic example in Toronto...Labatt years ago achieved a dominant share in gay clubs largely on their early support for AIDS research when no one else would touch it), but it's less of a factor for large ticket items. Now, years later, any initial advantage has eroded simply due to evolving tastes and other marketing initiatives.
You don't see a Gay Auto Show circuit, it isn't seen as economical or necessary. There's no need to waste valuable ad dollars in an ad property that really doesn't produce a measureable ROI...I can't think of any gay-specific car dealerships that would benefit.
Just a cold advertiser point of view.
I already answered this on another thread. It just doesn't make business sense to waste advertising dollars to a 2-3% population of adults. If you need a car, regardless of your sexual orientation, you're going to buy what you can afford and what you like. At Ford, somebody must have looked at the bottom line and said, why are we spending XXX $$ and getting almost nothing in return?
That was a great episode.
Forget the gay angle for a minute...
It can make sense if only 2 or 3% of the population can afford what you're selling and you think you can effectively reach those consumers and get some feel for ROI. Example: My company was the first to market Plasma TV in Canada, and at roughly $30K at that. They targeted very high end magazines as the target demographic was there and since specialty mags (wine, high end homes, etc) often give you a chance to tell more than a simple ad story. You can also drive surveys to see if anyone's paying attention and offer targeted promos to see if you're generating sales. Once I took over the advertising position 2 years ago I stopped all of this lifestyle stuff and went ROP, on-line and keener mags. Why? By that point we didn't need to tell anyone paying attention to the business what plasma was and they we approaching more mass affordability. My total ROI on lifestyle ads was negligible so far as we could determine anyway at theat point (the real first adopters already bought sets) and I had limited funds that I couldn't justify spending on mags with questionable circulation numbers.
At Ford, somebody must have looked at the bottom line and said, why are we spending XXX $$ and getting almost nothing in return?
Exactly.
Don't forget Faguar. Notice that Mercedes Bends (over) is still advertising.
I think it had something to do with the well-endowed girl in the bikini laying on the hood ad. Research shows the subject readers inthese pubs simply glossed over the ads whereas readers from Field and Stream spent an average of 92.8 seconds carefully reviewing the ads and reading all the fine print thereon.
parsy, who thinks he may be on to something.
Hell, Ford cut a deal in the first place with the GLAAD type crowd. It's not paying off, so cut a deal with a different crowd.
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