Comments on: [rant] Ford caves in to religious right - and I thought marketing boycotts did not work! http://www.emergencemarketing.com/2005/12/08/rant-ford-caves-in-to-religious-right-and-i-thought-marketing-boycotts-did-not-work/ Thoughts on marketing, innovation, social networking, new products and the impact of technology on all those thingies Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:10:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Emergence Marketing http://www.emergencemarketing.com/2005/12/08/rant-ford-caves-in-to-religious-right-and-i-thought-marketing-boycotts-did-not-work/#comment-242 Emergence Marketing Wed, 14 Dec 2005 20:51:28 +0000 http://emergencemarketing.com/?p=470#comment-242 <strong>Ford reverses it's decision...and will continue to advertise in gay magazines!</strong> Ok...so maybe I will not feel so bad about driving a Ford after all - they got the message - and they (FORD) reversed their decision not to cave in to religious extremists who wanted them not to advertise in...

Ford reverses it’s decision…and will continue to advertise in gay magazines!

Ok…so maybe I will not feel so bad about driving a Ford after all - they got the message - and they (FORD) reversed their decision not to cave in to religious extremists who wanted them not to advertise in…

]]> By: mm http://www.emergencemarketing.com/2005/12/08/rant-ford-caves-in-to-religious-right-and-i-thought-marketing-boycotts-did-not-work/#comment-241 mm Sat, 10 Dec 2005 11:18:21 +0000 http://emergencemarketing.com/?p=470#comment-241 Shouldn't these people focus on helping the needy during this holiday season instead of focusing on how companies "promote" the holidays? Shouldn’t these people focus on helping the needy during this holiday season instead of focusing on how companies “promote” the holidays?

]]> By: Mary Schmidt http://www.emergencemarketing.com/2005/12/08/rant-ford-caves-in-to-religious-right-and-i-thought-marketing-boycotts-did-not-work/#comment-240 Mary Schmidt Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:23:23 +0000 http://emergencemarketing.com/?p=470#comment-240 I know I should know better by now - but I continue to be amazed by the utterly ridiculous behavior by the so-called "Christian" extremists - and companies that pander to them. Boycotts sound good - but have we ever seen any company post bad quarterly results due to one - or that had any significant lasting impact on the business in general? While I'm sure that there have been cases where such things worked at local/regional levels (the backlash against the Crawford, Tx newspaper that endorsed Kerry comes to mind) - overall, boycotts just make the boycotter feel like they're doing something. And, this is just as true of boycotts by animal activists, liberals, etc. Perhaps Ford should have done a cost/benefit analysis re how much business they'd lose by withdrawing the advertising. "Threat to hetereosexuality?" Dang, I missed the last recruitment drive by the local gay/lesbian group! Wonder what kind of member benefits they offer if I join? Association discounts on health care? Special deals on a Ford? This is the same type of non-thinking that brought about the whole Christmas "threat" to begin with. Although I admit I - for example - find Bill O'Reilly entertaining (in very small doses) - I don't see any signs of the far left liberal progressive nutballs (as O'Reilly calls them) "attacking Xmas" (Many of them are devout Christians, after all). This sort of knee-jerk hubbub is bad for our society, bad for business. All goes to it's impossible to separate "personal" from "business" - be it religion, politics, culture or personal preferences. I know I should know better by now - but I continue to be amazed by the utterly ridiculous behavior by the so-called “Christian” extremists - and companies that pander to them. Boycotts sound good - but have we ever seen any company post bad quarterly results due to one - or that had any significant lasting impact on the business in general? While I’m sure that there have been cases where such things worked at local/regional levels (the backlash against the Crawford, Tx newspaper that endorsed Kerry comes to mind) - overall, boycotts just make the boycotter feel like they’re doing something. And, this is just as true of boycotts by animal activists, liberals, etc. Perhaps Ford should have done a cost/benefit analysis re how much business they’d lose by withdrawing the advertising.

“Threat to hetereosexuality?” Dang, I missed the last recruitment drive by the local gay/lesbian group! Wonder what kind of member benefits they offer if I join? Association discounts on health care? Special deals on a Ford?

This is the same type of non-thinking that brought about the whole Christmas “threat” to begin with. Although I admit I - for example - find Bill O’Reilly entertaining (in very small doses) - I don’t see any signs of the far left liberal progressive nutballs (as O’Reilly calls them) “attacking Xmas” (Many of them are devout Christians, after all).

This sort of knee-jerk hubbub is bad for our society, bad for business.

All goes to it’s impossible to separate “personal” from “business” - be it religion, politics, culture or personal preferences.

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