A "Tide"-al Wave of Bigotry
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Some people really need a hobby:
Boycotts are all well and good I suppose, but I wonder why the bigots are limiting themselves just to Tide and Crest? Is it possible that P&G makes just too many products for them to live without?
And of course, spending power works both ways -- it can be selectively deployed as well as selectively withheld. As both sellers and employers, many businesses are ahead of the curve on their interaction with the gay community (which, incidentally, is generally thought to have above-average discretionary income, although hard data are scarce).
If Cincinnati wants to shoot itself in the foot with a dumb law (wouldn't be the first time), then so be it. But as the dominant business in that city (heck, as a dominant business, period), P&G has the right, perhaps even the obligation, to speak up.
Good for them.
UPDATE: This issue fell off my radar screen. Beaverhausen Blog has the latest.
Conservative Christian groups are urging a boycott of two of consumer product maker Procter & Gamble's key products, charging the company is aligning itself with gay rights groups, according to a published report.
The New York Times said Friday that James Dobson of Focus on the Family and the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association are angry at P&G for a statement on the company's internal Web site opposing an anti-gay rights statute in its hometown of Cincinnati. The law exempts gays and lesbians from special civil rights protection.
The two influential conservatives charge that by opposing the Cincinnati statute, the company is joining a push to allow same-sex marriage. They are urging supporters to boycott Crest toothpaste and Tide laundry detergent.
"For Procter & Gamble to align itself with radical groups committed to redefining marriage in our country is an affront to its customers," Dobson told the paper.
Procter & Gamble spokesman Douglas Shelton told the Times the groups are mixing two unrelated issues. Shelton said the company opposed just the Cincinnati statute and not efforts by the group to amend the Ohio Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. "The issue that these organizations are trying to put in our laps is one that we have not taken a position on," he said.
Boycotts are all well and good I suppose, but I wonder why the bigots are limiting themselves just to Tide and Crest? Is it possible that P&G makes just too many products for them to live without?
And of course, spending power works both ways -- it can be selectively deployed as well as selectively withheld. As both sellers and employers, many businesses are ahead of the curve on their interaction with the gay community (which, incidentally, is generally thought to have above-average discretionary income, although hard data are scarce).
If Cincinnati wants to shoot itself in the foot with a dumb law (wouldn't be the first time), then so be it. But as the dominant business in that city (heck, as a dominant business, period), P&G has the right, perhaps even the obligation, to speak up.
Good for them.
UPDATE: This issue fell off my radar screen. Beaverhausen Blog has the latest.
Posted by KipEsquire on
17 September 2004
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