Comments on: More Response from Ford to AFA’s “Boycott Victory”

By: Ford « The Gay Dissenter

Ford « The Gay Dissenter — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:11:14 +0000

[...] Timothy Kincaid behält die Angelegenheit im Blick. [...]

By: grantdale

grantdale — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:54:01 +0000

Ford are still showing a gay couple in their adverts in Australia. Oh, yawn.

Zeke: it’ll depend on how they are predicting who will buy in the next year or so.

When times are good — or people at least think they are — a great deal of extra advertising occurs to try and get those “maybe I need a new car, or maybe not just yet” people into the showrooms. Discretionary advertising for discretionary purchases.

When a downturn occurs, those sort of purchases are the first to be dropped. People who really do need a new car will still turn up and buy one, but those on the margin will probably delay any purchase until things improve.

If people aren’t in the mood to buy, no amount of advertising will help them decide otherwise. All you can do is maintain your brand image in preparation for a better mood sometime in the future, and to make sure you maintain your profile vs the competition.

The statement by Ford seems reasonable and believable, given all that’s going on at the moment.

cheers!

By: Zeke

Zeke — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:20:54 +0000

I’m with Timothy. Something still smells fishy here.

By: Zeke

Zeke — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:19:46 +0000

I’m not a marketing specialist or anything so maybe I shouldn’t worry my pretty little head about these things but doesn’t it seem reasonable that it’s precisely when a company is doing poorly in sales that it would want to INCREASE rather than decrease ad buys and promotions?

Maybe someone with an MBA could explain to me why Ford thinks that now is the time to decrease advertising and promotions.

By: Emily K

Emily K — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:33:22 +0000

This is like the AFA doing a raindance when they see a thundercloud coming, and then saying they made it storm. Ford is in a lot bigger trouble than anything the AFA could dream up. they have severe market, consumer and economic issues to deal with. I think it’s commendable they keep up the ties they do with the charities they contribute to. Any cutbacks that happen occur because of those issues, not the AFA.