According to the New York Times, advertising in gay media has been on the rise. Rivendell Media, an advertising representative for gay and lesbian media outlets in Mountainside, N.J., said spending in publications aimed at gay audiences rose 2 percent in 2005, to $212 million. From 2003 to 2004, spending increased 28 percent. This year, Rivendell expects another large increase.
"Smart companies would say it's all about being inclusive anyway," the chief executive of Rivendell, Todd Evans, said. "Its so funny how laissez-faire it is now to advertise to this market."
28% increase in LGBT targeted advertising spending? So much for the impact of the wingnuts boycotts. (18 wingnut homo-hating groups have reinstated a boycott of Ford b/c of its continued advertising investments in LGBT media sources. Note that the original boycott had 43 participating groups. I'm not going to post a link to this garbage so you can just read the NYT for all the details).
Homo-bloggers around the country have been noting this little-boy cott as an example of just another desperately petty attempt by the wingnuts to isolate homos. But the evidence don't lie! We are a firmly entrenched target market for lots and lots and lots of advertising dollars.
The national LGBT labor organization Pride at Work has issued a statement making the excellent point that boycotting Ford is only going to hurt more American working families (30,000 workers are due to be laid off).
So all you anti-gay marriage zealots need to step up and explain to these 30,000 families how lesbians pose a greater threat to their families than losing their jobs, health insurance and pension. I'd really like to know.
