Under Pressure From KKK, Ford Pulls Ads From Black Media

From AmericaBlog -
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/under-pressure-from-kkk-ford-pulls-ads.html

That's the headline of a story in one of the TOP corporate communications publications in the country that EVERY public relations agency reads. They eviscerate Ford.

At this point, the damage to Ford now goes FAR BEYOND any threatened damage from the extremist gay-hating groups. Ford better wake up fast and compare the publicity they got when the AFA threatened a boycott this past May with the publicity they're getting now that they caved to the AFA. There is no comparison. We have already damaged their brand - THEY have already damaged their brand - far beyond anything the AFA could have hoped for even had it launched a boycott.

All this, and we haven't even launched a formal campaign against Ford - yet.

Here's an excerpt, but be sure to read the entire thing (and don't miss the final paragraph, in bold below):

Under Pressure From KKK, Ford Pulls Ads From Black Media

Okay, so that’s not quite the story, although the KKK should probably give it a try, because if Ford’s craven response to pressure from the American Family Association is any indication, the company would buckle under at the first sign of trouble....

Forty years ago, at the height of the civil rights struggle, the KKK had about the same economic influence, popular support and moral authority the American Family Association enjoys today. It’s hard to imagine that Ford then would have negotiated with the Klan, far less given it an excuse to claim victory. The company’s surrender to the AFA tells you all you need to know about the quality of leadership at Ford today.

well, not really THAT hard...wasn't the Ford family quite supportive of fascism prior to and during WW II?

http://www.thememoryhole.org/fordnazi.htm

"That Henry Ford, the famous automobile manufacturer gave money to the National Socialists directly or indirectly has never been disputed," said Konrad Heiden, one of the first biographers of Hitler.<87> Novelist Upton Sinclair wrote in The Flivver King, a book about Ford, that the Nazis got forty-thousand dollars from Ford to reprint anti-Jewish pamphlets in German translations, and that an additional $300,00 was later sent to Hitler through a grandson of the ex-Kaiser who acted as an intermediary.<88> The US Ambassador to Germany, William E. Dodd, said in an interview that "certain American industrialists had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy."<89> At the time of Dodd's criticisms, the general public was aware that he was speaking of Ford because the press made a direct association between Dodd's statements and other reports of Ford's anti-Semitism.

....

Henry Ford's reward from Hitler finally came in July 1938, when on his seventy-fifth birthday he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle. Ford was the first American and the fourth person in the world to receive this medal, which was the highest decoration that could be given to any non-German citizen. Benito Mussolini, another of Hitler's financiers, had been decorated with the same honor earlier that year.<128>

The presentation was made in Ford's Dearborn office by the German Counsul on Cleveland, Karl Kapp, and Consul Fritz Hailer of Detroit. Kapp placed the silk red sash over Ford's right shoulder. The sash was worn in a diagonal line from the right shoulder to the left hip where it was clasped with a gold and white cross. Kapp then pinned a large, shining star-shaped medal of Ford's white suit. The decoration was given "in recognition of pioneering in making motor cars available for the masses." Hitler's personal congratulatory message accompanied the award.

The both are organizations filled with ignorant, hateful people. I rack my brain and can find little or no difference between the two, except one hates in sheets, the other doesn't.

and its sad to think that a major corporation has to contend with such knuckleheads.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/former-senior-bush-white-house.html

<snip>
So who are these two boys, Leitch and Ojakli?

Ziad Ojakli
Ford group vice president-Corporate Affairs

From Open Secrets we learn that Mr. Ojakli is a big GOP donor - Ojakli was a Bush Pioneer fundraiser, who himself donated $3000 to the Republican National Committee in 2004 and $2000 for Bush's re-election campaign. He's also a senior former Bush administration official, serving as Deputy Assistant to the President, Legislative Affairs.

Oh, but there's more on Ojakli. He's worked for the worst of the worst of the right-wing Christian-right-loving Republicans. From Ford's own bio on him:

Prior to joining the White House staff, Ojakli served as the Senate liaison for the Bush-Cheney Transition Team and as Congressional liaison for Victory 2000 at the Republican National Committee....

From 1995 to 1998, Ojakli served as chief of staff to Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) and was Souder's key political and policy advisor. Prior to that, he was a legislative assistant to Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN), specializing in budget, tax, trade, energy and environmental issues.

Dan Coats was the religious right's boy in the Senate. And Souder was just as bad in the House.

David Leitch
Ford General Counsel, Vice President

Leitch was deputy general counsel to George Bush at the White House, and now is the general counsel at Ford. (Source: Ford's own press release.)

Remember how Microsoft had all sorts of suspicious dealings with Ralph Reed at the time it embraced the religious right? Well, now we have Ford embracing bigotry and the deal is worked out by - who? - two senior (former) Bush White House officials. Surprise, surprise.

<snip

I gave up on them a long time ago when they hired asshole Toby Keith to pimp their trucks. I'd been buying Ford trucks for almost 30 years.