I just passed over buying a Ford car

[Brian_Expat]

I purchased a General Motors product (GM Daewoo) instead of a Ford product due to Ford's sell-out of the gay community. I spent over US$20,000 at the present exchange rate and that's $20K which is going into the pockets of their biggest competitor rather than themselves.

I will be sending Ford USA and Ford Global HQ (as well as Ford UK) a letter detailing my decision and urging them to consider how much money that gay people, their families, friends and other supporters spend on cars and trucks around the world.

I came within a few days of buying a fully-loaded Ford car. . . but now they're off my list until they apologise.

Have you skipped over buying a Ford product because of their homophobia? If so, we should start a registry with the value of the purchase we ended up making instead of Ford. It would be fantastic for the financial press, reporting on Ford's poor business decisions and financial crisis, to note that "in 2006 alone, Ford lost almost $500 million in revenue and almost $100 million in net income simply by launching an anti-gay campaign."

[Brian_Expat]

1. By the way. . .

. . . when you make your decision, be certain to tell your Ford dealer as well.

Tell him or her "I was going to buy the Fiesta/Focus/Mondeo/fill-in-the-blank but I learned about Ford's anti-gay campaign and cannot in good faith buy one of their cars now, sorry."

If a dealership loses just five or six sales a year due to this, they'll get ticked off and let Ford know about it.

[swimmernsecretsea]

2. Since they're worried about their revenue,

show them what losing money and customer loyalty really looks like. Good job.

[davidinalameda]

3. good for you!

[NoAmericanTaliban]

4. Good for you..

but why is Ford more anti-gay than GM? Just new to the issue & want some more info.

[Brian_Expat]

6. See the thread on the deal the AFA cut with Ford

Ford will stop sponsoring any gay-affiliated event and will pull most of its advertising from gay periodicals due to threats from the AFA.

[Brian_Expat]

5. I've also sent an e-mail to the fleet buyer for our company

I asked if Ford's position on this issue would be in conflict with our corporate non-discrimination policy. Our purchasing person told me that she'd get back to me and lo and behold, in my in-box is a letter saying that, in her opinion, Ford violates the company's diversity policy due to its stance on this issue and that it's unlikely Ford will receive fleet business in the future. She's put in a notation in the file and said that she'll advise the fleet buyer to avoid all Ford corporation products because buying them would make our (rather gay) company a hostile climate for its gay employees around the world.

Our company leases or buys about 60 fleet cars per year around the world -- that's business which GM appears safe to keep now.

So in just one week, Ford has lost itself 61 new car sales from the actions of one gay man pissed off over their policies. How many other car sales do they stand to lose? More importantly, how many AFA idiots are in a position to do the same?

We should really push hard on this. General Motors welcomes the gay community and values our money -- if we're interested in giving money to a troubled US auto giant, we should give it to the troubled US auto giant who views us as human beings, is willing to sponsor our events, and is willing to tell the bigots to piss off!

[BR_Parkway]

7. Terrific program and suggestions ExPat, can you email them

over to http://americablog.blogspot.com/(John Aravosis) if you haven't already, he's doing a compiliation of all Ford's actions, lies, denials and actions that people are taking to protest them giving in to right wing bigots.

[hvn_nbr_2]

11. Wow. Good job. n/t

[kevinbgoode]

17. Oh, Brian! PLEASE send that story along to FORD

You know Americablog.com has a lot of contact addresses - let them know that this is already happening, and there isn't even any kind of organized boycott.

[Brian_Expat]

8. Another thing to do for Ford. . .

. . . how many of you know public figures or government offices which are pro-gay or not anti-gay, but which drive Fords?

Massachusetts, for instance, has a Ford fleet. Gavin Newsome's official car is a Lincoln. Write into them and tell them that come replacement time, you want them to select a brand not owned by Ford. Keep an eye peeled for opportunities.

[mitchtv]

9. Great news

We hav a new purchase coming up soon. Right now we have a Fors and an AMC Jeep- next one? a Chevy.

[Brian_Expat]

10. Another idea. . .

. . . Contact the UAW and other labour unions who work at Ford plants. Tell them that Ford's anti-gay policies will result in lower sales and more job losses. Give them as much ammo as possible for them to use in the court of public opinion -- especially financial markets.

[Sapphocrat]

12. ^5 for ya, Brian!

And the registry is a brilliant idea. :thumbsup:

[Ally McLesbian]

13. I'm already in for the boycott

I've been driving a Contour since 1999. That's Mondeo for you, Brian_Expat.

Due to Ford's heavy reliance on Exploitations, F-Series and other gas guzzlers, as well as neocon customers (the only vehicles that still carry W '04 bumper stickers in my area are Fords - Exploitations, Volvos, Lincolns, Escorts, etc), I've been sick of Ford for ages. W drives an F-250, and Karl Rove has a Jaguar S-Type.

Shortly after I bought my Contour (my very first car), I knew that it would be the last Ford I'd ever own, due to these factors. Then my Contour decided to betray me, and stalled repeatedly on the highway, at only 50,000 miles. It did not help that the online owner group - the ONLY place I could meet Contour owners because everyone around me drives Camrys and Accords instead - was pretty much a neocon slugfest, blaming Al Gore for emissions laws and such, and proclaiming the Contour to be the "conservative man's BMW." I'd say actress Gillian Anderson is pretty much the only liberal I know of who drove Contours - and even then, only as part of her Dana Scully role on the X-Files. Now my car won't even pass emissions, and must be junked before the next emissions test.

I would rather buy from BMW, Hyundai, or Nissan - even though these are companies that have no domestic partner benefits for US employees - than from sellout Ford. Their products are far superior to anything from Ford anyway, and in fact, I currently lease a BMW 3-series as a backup car, because my Contour is so troublesome that I can't trust it anymore. When the lease is up, both cars will be replaced, hopefully with another 3-series.

[BR_Parkway]

14. Traded my little Ford Ranger for a Subaru Baja today!

Was planning on this before Ford caved in to the phony KKKristians. So, I've just spent the past 3 days going to both Ford dealers looking at their F-150's in my area (knowing I was going to get the Baja)

Told the Subaru dealer I was buying their product specifically because of Subaru's long history of supporting gays and not caving to bigots. He was very happy to make me 2 additional copies of the Window Sticker when I told him I was taking them by the Ford dealers to show them what bigotry cost them!

Just got back from showing both salesman and finance guys at the 2 Ford dealers my new Baja - and gave them a copy of the sticker to show them how much money I just spent that could have been theirs... if only for their parent company's refusal to stand up to bullies and bigots.

Damn that felt wonderful!

[Ally McLesbian]

15. Good job!

Show 'em what they're gonna miss out on!

[kevinbgoode]

16. You ROCK ! ! !

That is exactly what we need to be showing them. . .that we purchase vehicles too.

[moose65]

20. Way to go!

Did you get it at Southern States in Boone? My next vehicle will be a Subie!!

[AndyS40]

18. How about a bumper sticker

"Since Ford caters to bigots, this is what I'm driving"

[Sapphocrat]

19. I have a few designed...

Now I'm trying to find out if Cafepress will print them, or ban the images outright (they're VERY wary of any design that mentions specific companies, with good reason).

And... welcome to DU, AndyS40! :hi:

[terrya]

21. Good for you. I have a feeling we haven't gotten the full story yet.

Given the way Ford has been so sneaky about all of this, I wouldn't be surprised if Ford also caved in demands to cut the domestic partner benefits offered to their employees. I can't believe the hatemongering American Family Assoication would be merely satisfied about only pulling their ads from gay and lesbian perodicals.

But good for you, Brian. :-)

[cboy4]

22. Thatta boy!

:kick: