• NY Times, Thursday, December 15, 2005 11:30 AM

Ford Motor Company, which less than two weeks ago announced it would abandon advertising in gay publications, yesterday reversed itself. The decision followed widespread outrage in the gay community and harmful press elsewhere. There was no immediate reaction from Donald Wildmon or his American Family Association, the conservative Christian group that had claimed victory when Ford withdrew its ads earlier in the month; the AFA had threatened Ford with a boycott over what it perceived as inappropriate advertising. The automotive giant now seeks to emerge from the public-relations humiliation it suffered when it bowed to AFA's pressure. In doing so, it said it would not only return to gay-themed publications, it would for the first time advertise all eight of its car brands in such titles. Ford denied all along that it had dropped out of the category in response to AFA's demands.

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