A lot of people mistakenly think that AITF was out to demonize Archie and the fact that people liked him was some sort of backfire. It’s the not the case. He was supposed to be a ‘loveable bigot’. They wanted people to like him.
That's not the way I remember it. I recall reading an article while the show was still on the air, and it said that Norman Lear was shocked to find out that people liked (and identified with) Archie. Archie was supposed to be a buffoon, and to represent the "typical bigot."