feh...
Posted on 08/04/2012 6:23:36 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
You better think twice, Chick-fil-A: The same week that the fast food chain faced criticism over its president’s opposition to same-sex marriage, the train company unveiled a new campaign targeting gay and lesbian customers.
The same week that controversy erupted over Chick-fil-A’s opposition to same-sex marriage, Amtrak unveiled a marketing campaign aimed at its gay and lesbian clientele.
The “Ride With Pride” program promotes “extremely gay-friendly” destinations, including California wine country and Martha’s Vineyard.
“It makes good business sense to target a population that is a friend of the rails, a friend of rail travel,” said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole, who was unsure how many tickets were sold through the promotion.
The initiative was rolled out around the same time restaurant chain Chick-fil-A made national headlines after president Dan Cathy said the company is "guilty as charged" of opposing same-sex marriage.
Fallout for Chick-fil-A continues to be mixed, but even as Cathy stands behind his polarizing remarks, other companies are making a concerted effort to court gay and lesbian customers.
Kraft Foods posted a photo of a rainbow-hued Oreo cookie to its Facebook page in June -- earning 2,000 comments and the threat of a boycott.
That same month, Target’s website began selling t-shirts with rainbows and slogans like “harmony” and “pride” as part of a fundraiser to support a marriage equality group.
Even formerly conservative companies are opening their marketing camapaigns to gay and lesbian customers, whose buying power is expected to reach $790 billion this year, marketing firm Witeck Communications told the Los Angeles Times.
Hotel mega-chain Marriott International, which once had Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as a corporate board member, this spring launched a massive campaign targeting gay travelers. The "Be You, With Us," is widely promoted on the corporate website, which also declares “We’re proud to say Marriott was one of the first hotel companies to offer equal benefits to same-sex couples nationwide.”
So far, Amtrak said it hasn’t seen any backlash to the “Ride With Pride” campaign.
“Our policy is to welcome all segments of the population,” Cole said.
More to the point, you can’t boycott Amtrak if you don’t ride it in the first place.
Yes, it is tax dollar funded.
In any case, how do they know that this whole “gay-friendly” corporate thing is not just a fad-—one that could turn on a dime if the culture changed? MSM always thinks fads will continue on and on. They don’t.
IF they are gay or lesbian what are they going to do besides travel. IF they travel in a bedroom who is going to know what they do IN the bedroom. What has AMTRACK gained ? Nothing, besides offending common, ordinary, Christian people!!!
IF they are gay or lesbian what are they going to do besides travel. IF they travel in a bedroom who is going to know what they do IN the bedroom. What has AMTRACK gained ? Nothing, besides offending common, ordinary, Christian people!!!
IF they are gay or lesbian what are they going to do besides travel. IF they travel in a bedroom who is going to know what they do IN the bedroom. What has AMTRACK gained ? Nothing, besides offending common, ordinary, Christian people!!!
Yeah, but no one rides this train anyway. How would they ever know?
It's been less than a week. 4 days. Nobody rode, so nobody left, therefore the homo campaign was a success? LOL!
I think they should go more public with this. I think they should paint a HUGE rainbow on the side of the train, with "NAMBLA.com" written under it.
If they were truly supportive of homos, they'd make their support loud and clear.
Let's rally the train company, and demand they do this in the name of tolerance and diversity. Let's force them not only out - but WAY out. Then we can see how much of a success this homo campaign really is! Hiding these campaigns in the closet hoping no one will notice just isn't good enough.
Anyone wanting to go broke over overprice Amtrak tickets is welcome to. Driving or flying will usually turn out to be better alternatives.
I am sure that the extra cost is things like labor to load the food onto the train. OH, and the people manager layers upon layers of six figure incomes all tied to the vending machines.
Remember when Brawny paper towels tried a campaign using two homosexual partners to sell their products? Man, they shut that campaign down overnight. No one bought their "gay" paper towels. They had to go back to the real man character they usually used. It hurt the company really bad.
“Even with our tax dollars and support from the gay 2% of the population, Amtrak can’t even make a profit on a $9.50 vending machine burger in a plastic wrapper and a $2.00 can of Pepsi. The corruption behind their food business must be monumental!”
Amtrak, being a government entity, must follow every single government reg religiously. In addition, it doesn’t help when the guy doing the serving is making $80-100 bucks an hour, when you include bene’s, NOT including per diems, lodging, etc.
Add in the costs of things like gov-mandated minority-sourced purchasing, yada,yada, and it’s not hard to understand how the costs skyrocket.
I read an article on Amtrak a few years ago that said by the time a roll of toilet paper makes it in to an on-train bathroom, it’s cost is something like $5 A ROLL.
It's really not all that popular amongst the voters in the NE and West either. Every time it's put to a referendum it goes down to defeat by huge margins, even in tree hugging Oregon. If you check the states where it's legal, that's all been done by unelected black robes imposing it on the rest of us. It is popular with the politicians because homosexuals have bucks and they're single issue voters, so politicians love to pander to them.
Front pocket, next to the “equipment”, probably not a good idea.
Back pocket next to the, well you know, probably not.
Breast pocket, don't be silly.
From now on those Gay Dollars go inside the Man Purse. I want my Dollars working, not screwing around.
I sure wish I had bought stock in K-Y and Vaseline. I'd be one of those Rich people that Obama loves to hate, and I'd be making money off of people that really “work for it”, if you know what I mean.
It's always hard work trying to Enter the Exit.
Yeah I noted she conveniently forgot to mention JC Penney’s
didn’t know Amtrak was fag friendly
So that’s why all the cars smell like butt....
Au contraire. . . I hear that homosexuals “pull trains” all the time. . .
(diving for cover, grinning like hell. . . )
LOL!
feh...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.