A boycott launched against Ford in the US over advertising to gay consumers has been dropped.
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The American Family Association ended its two-year campaign, which targeted the automaker because its advertising on web sites and in publications geared toward the gay community, as well as offering benefits to same-sex couples.
The Mississippi-based conservative group gathered over 780,000 signatures for its petition and said Ford met all of its conditions, including ending corporate donations to organisations engaged in campaigns to promote civil unions or same-sex marriage and pulling advertising from gay web sites and media outlets in the United States.
Ford said in a statement that it was scaling back all advertising and charitable spending due to lagging sales and some $US2.7bn (GBP1.34bn) in North American losses.
“Ford will continue to market its products widely to attract as many customers as possible and make charitable contributions to strengthen communities to the extent business conditions allow,” the statement added.
Despite its agreement to the association’s demands, Ford received a high rating from gay rights organisation the Human Rights Campaign for its anti-discrimination policies and health benefits for domestic partners.
Joel Ceausu
