November 7, 2007
Column #1,367
AFA's Impact on the Media
by Mike McManus
At a recent Maryland Coalition Against Pornography meeting a woman asked
a penetrating question, after hearing speakers describe the problem. "I
am just one person. What can I do about all of this?"
Rev. Don Wildmon is an ordained United Methodist pastor who left the
pastorate 30 years ago to create the American Family Association to
provide a practical answer. AFA has done a better job mobilizing
individual Christians than any other group.
An early major battle was against 7-11 stores for selling pornography.
AFA encouraged people to write 7-11 about how offensive they found
Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler and pledge to avoid the stores until the
publications were removed. Tens of thousands did so, and 7-11 yanked the
magazines off the shelves, resulting in a 43% plunge in their sales in
one day.
The magazines are still in business, but their reach and harm was
slashed nearly in half by concerned citizens who read about the 7-11
boycott in the AFA Magazine.
Today AFA works primarily through its website, afa.net. Some 2.8
million citizens are on-line supporters in a wide variety of campaigns.
That's a lot of people. If only a small fraction complain to advertisers
about an offensive TV show, they can persuade many to drop their ads.
For example, you can join OneMillion Dads.com or OneMillionMoms.com
which motivate and equip citizens to change the culture to reflect
Biblical truth. They receive one e-mail a week on how to halt the
exploitation of children by the entertainment media. The "e-activist"
clicks on a link to view a drafted letter to an advertiser or a network.
They can send it, edit it or write a fresh one to relevant
decision-makers.
Results? Geico ordered the Fox network to drop its ads on the "Dirt"
show. T-Mobile even decided to drop ALL ads on the Fox. NBC dropped "the
Book of Daniel," an expensive show mocking Christianity. Lowe's, Sears
and Walgreens agreed to replace "Season's Greetings" with "Merry
Christmas."
However, some advertisers hang tough. Ford Motors consciously markets to
gay and lesbian households. Its Fords and Volvos were advertised in
"The Advocate," the largest gay magazine, in a special issue on
"Polygamy and Gay Men" featuring multiple partner "marriages," one with
three men and a woman. Ford donated $250,000 toward the building of a
new Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Ferndale, Michigan.
In response AFA launched a boycott of Ford products in 2006. Thus far,
761,000 have signed a Boycott Ford Pledge and doubtless many more of 2.8
million AFA activists are buying other cars. In 18 of the last 20
months, Ford Inc. sales have dropped 9.5 percent in October, for
example, from one year ago. Ford cars plunged an astonishing 32 percent.
By contrast, GM sales were up 3.4 percent and had risen for three
straight months. Toyota gained 4.5 percent, outselling Ford to rank No.
2 in U.S. sales. Chrysler rose 7 percent.
Ford blames its decline on a "previously planned reduction in daily
rental sales." However, it would never admit that a Christian boycott
was working.
Ford is so impervious to AFA's criticism, that it has actually escalated
its promotion of the gay agenda. Ford sponsored a Jan.16, 2007 episode
of "Dirt" on Fox showing one man move his hand down another man's shirt,
rubbing his crotch. He undoes the man's belt, pants and zipper, and
moves toward his penis. In a distance shot, he is seen giving oral sex.
In August, Ford donated $25,000 to the Human Rights Campaign, America's
largest homosexual activist organization, to defeat a Federal Marriage
Amendment.
In an "Advocate" interview for a four page profile, "Driving the Gay
Market," Ford indicated it might escalate its gay-specific ads. Ford
spokesman Jim Cain said, "We haven't ruled out the possibility of doing
more targeted (gay) ads..."
More? Ford is already the largest sponsor of programs sponsoring
homosexuality on prime time TV. (Toyota, AT&T and Proctor & Gamble are
other big sponsors.)
One wonders why Ford can't do simple math. Four out of five Americans
say they are Christian while only 3 percent are homosexual and 1 percent
Lesbian. Arby's, 3M, Dairy Queen and Dentyne quickly dropped their
sponsorship of offensive programs after being targeted by AFA activists.
Don Wildmon modestly observes, "I don't know if we have had an impact.
The culture is a lot worse, a whole lot worse."
Yet imagine how much worse things would be if it were not for the
American Family Association.
|
|
Since 1981...
2000+ Columns |
|
CURRENT ARTICLE |
|
Febrary 9,
2022: Column 2113: My Farewell Column: Happy Valentine's Week |
|
Recent Columns |
|
Writing Columns About
Marriage |
|
Will Abortion Be Made Illegal? |
|
Restore Voting Rights to Ex-Felons |
|
Progress in Black-White Relations |
|
Marriage Is
Disappearing |
|
Catholic Priest Celibacy Should Be Optional |
|
Blacks Must Consider Marriage |
|
The Need to End Catholic Priest Celibacy |
|
More Lessons For Life |
|
Lessons For Life |
|
Rebuilding Marriage in America |
|
How To Reduce Drunk Driving Deaths |
|
The Value of Couples Praying Together |
|
A Case for Pro-Life
|
|
End
The Death Penalty? |
|
Christian Choices Matter |
|
The Biblical Sexual Standard |
|
The Addictive Nature of Pornography |
|
Protecting Girls from Suicide |
|
The Worst Valentine:
Cohabitation |
|
Pornography: A Public Health Hazard |
|
Sextortion Kills Teens |
|
Cohabitation: A Risky Business |
|
Recent Searches |
|
gun control,
euthanasia,
cohabitation,
sexting,
sextortion,
alcoholism,
prayer,
guns,
same sex marriage,
abortion,
depression,
islam,
divorce,
polygamy,
religious liberty,
health care,
pornography,
teen sex,
abortion and infanticide,
Roe+v+Wade,
supreme court,
marriage,
movies,
violence,
celibacy,
living+together,
cohabitation,
ethics+and+religion,
pornography,
adultery,
divorce,
saving+marriages |
|