Ford's gay-ads stand not seen as retreat

Ford Motor Co.'s decision this week to stop some advertising in gay publications doesn't necessarily signal a retreat by corporate America from marketing to this demographic because many of these companies have a lot more to lose by not doing so, advertising experts said.

"We're at the most comfortable place we've ever been in terms of gay advertising," said Michael Wilke, executive director of Commercial Closet Association, a nonprofit that educates corporations on how to avoid stereotypes in gay advertising. "The taboo has fallen dramatically in the past 10 years."

Ad spending in gay publications increased 28.4 percent last year to reach $207 million, the highest since 2000, says a report by Rivendell Media Co. Inc., a gay media placement firm in New Jersey, and advertising firm Prime Access Inc. The report also found that more than 150 Fortune 500 companies did some form of marketing geared to the gay community, up from 72 companies in 2001 and 19 in 1994.

The trend has been fueled by a number of factors, including the rising buying power of gays and lesbians, which is expected to reach $610 billion this year, according to Witeck-Combs Communications. The growth has paralleled developments in pop culture and politics that brought gay issues to the forefront.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.gay09dec09,1,1638301.story?coll=bal-business-headlines

Ford got in bed with the neo-Nazi supporting, green pea soup-spewing christo-fascists, even though the Company had rejected their advances just three years ago.

. . . I'm pretty sure that they've both done work for Ford in the past. Not the most reliable commentators on this issue.

I'd have been inclined to agree that this was blown out of proportion had John Aravosis not done such a fantastic job of investigating what really happened at Ford.