Posted on 09/17/2004 1:20:06 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble should be boycotted for its efforts to overturn a local law barring special rights to homosexuals, says Focus on the Family founder and chairman James Dobson.
|
Dobson will urge listeners of his daily radio program today to stop buying two of the company's best-known products, Tide laundry detergent and Crest toothpaste.
His half-hour program reaches about 9 million listeners a week in North America.
The American Family Association already has launched a boycott against those products for the company's financial support of a campaign to repeal a Cincinnati city-charter amendment approved in 1993 with 62 percent of the vote. The group has set up an online petition.
Dobson argues that in addition to giving $10,000 to the campaign to overturn the amendment in November, Procter & Gamble has said it "will not tolerate discrimination in any form, against anyone, for any reason."
The family advocate says while the company does not explicitly endorse same-sex marriage, its statements and policies communicate the notion that restricting marriage to one man and one woman is discriminatory.
"For Procter & Gamble to align itself with radical groups committed to redefining marriage in our country is an affront to its customers," Dobson said. "An overwhelming majority of Americans -- the men and women who buy this company's products -- oppose same-sex marriage. To give no thought to their views while selling out to a very small special-interest group is not only bad business, it's bad for the country."
A Procter & Gamble media contact gave WND the company's standard response to the boycott.
"Statements and assertions made by these organizations are wrong. P&G has not supported gay marriage. The definition of marriage is a subject that will be debated and decided by voters."
Spokesman Doug Shelton was not immediately available for further comment.
Dobson said he has been disturbed by the company's sponsorship of "sexualized television programing," but "what its doing now threatens the cornerstone of our society: the family."
He acknowledges the difficulty of carrying out an effective boycott.
 |
"It's tough to make a dent, financially, in a corporate giant like Procter & Gamble," Dobson said. "But we can send a very strong message to the men and women in the corporate offices: 'Not only have you lost your moral compass, but you have lost our business. And you're not going to get it back until you stop insulting us and disregarding our values.'"
'Bigoted' attitude
Phil Burris, president of the citizens group trying to maintain the Cincinnati amendment, told AgapePress in February he was stunned the company would go against the majority of city residents who oppose giving special rights to homosexuals.
He contends the company fosters an environment hostile toward people who hold traditional values.
"Many people have left Procter and Gamble because of the hateful, bigoted attitude that it has toward people of faith," said Burris of the Equal Rights Not Special Rights committee. "And if you do not endorse and accept homosexuality, they will drum you out of the company."
In 2002, Procter & Gamble began offering "domestic-partner benefits" to its employees. The company did not issue a press release, but an internal memo acquired by Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute said the move was in line with P&G's "commitment to valuing diversity" and "promotes equal opportunity related to marital status or sexual orientation."
In 2000, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation praised Procter & Gamble for its decision to drop an advertising buy on a television show planned by Dr. Laura Schlessinger because of "controversy surrounding Dr. Laura on a number of topics."
In its announcement of the decision, P&G did not specify the topics, but GLAAD, hailing the company's move, said, "Criticism of Schlessinger's anti-gay commentaries has intensified in the last year, with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruling last week that her broadcasts were 'abusively discriminatory' toward lesbians and gay men."
Other major companies that distanced themselves from Schlessinger included Xerox, AT&T, United Airlines, Toys 'R' Us and American Express.
Within days of the Dr. Laura announcement, the company was criticized for declaring support for Cincinnati's Gay Pride Parade. But P&G insisted it was supporting its employees, not the parade itself.
 |
In the past, rumors spread that Procter & Gamble was tied to Satanism, prompting calls for boycotts. But prominent Christian leaders denounced the charges as baseless.
In the 1980s, the claim was based on an interpretation of the company's man-in-the-moon logo. In the 1990s, e-mails falsely claimed the president of the company appeared on the "Phil Donahue Show" and announced a large portion of the company's profits supports the church of Satan.
Procter would like to think of itself as a good corporate citizen, and it is indeed very generous. But part of good citizenship is having a real ethical basis for your decisions, and taking responsibility for what your largess ultimately supports. Way, way too often P$G hands out money to destructive local groups just to get them to go away from their Ivory Towers.
Procter would like to think of itself as a good corporate citizen, and it is indeed very generous. But part of good citizenship is having a real ethical basis for your decisions, and taking responsibility for what your largess ultimately supports. Way, way too often P$G hands out money to destructive local groups just to get them to go away from their Ivory Towers.
Ditto, Boycott it is. I started noticing that one of the soaps I occassionally watched was getting very inmoral and liberal. At the end when the credits came up they always said a Procter and Gamble production. Since, I have made it a point to avoid purchasing Procter and Gamble products anyway.
Procter and Gamble has been a "progressive", (read leftist),
corporate bully for years.
They've managed to keep a low profile until recently, but they've always been in the shadows, pulling strings for a long time.
Their most noxious act of snobbery was to have a low cost hamburger establishment torn down so the local, indigent "trash" wouldn't be seen close to their new (then)
corporate site.
They bought the hamburger business, tore it down, and built a parking lot, which was next to their multi-story parking lot across the street.......
bttt
FGS
Gave up on them long ago. Arm and Hammer is listed by Consumer Reports to be an excellent laundry soap- and it is.
mmmmmmm hamburgers
The best way to injure P&G is to point out that their products are not significantly better in quality and cost anywhere from 2 to 3 times as much as products that are just as adequate.
This is true of everything from Tide to Crest.
A whispering campaign about how expensive they are would be far more effective in injuring them.
So Dobson should not simply say, "Boycott Tide & Crest." He should say, "Folks, it is easy to boycott Tide & Crest because they COST significantly more than the other products, anyway. Join our boycott and YOU WILL SAVE money."
Incidentally, when in college I worked at one of P&G's tech labs in Cincy. (I have a degree of loyalty to them remaining, but they need to butt out of SOCIAL politics in the city.) But my job at the time put me in the direct position of comparing the performance of their products vs competitive products.
Many don't realize it, but if you could wash your clothing in distilled water, you'd get them just about as clean as with detergent. What you'd miss is the brightening agents.
There simply isn't that much difference between products. Not when 100 oz of one is on the shelf at 2.99 and Tide is on the shelf at 6.99. It's simple brand advertising that gets people to pay that much for a negligible cleaning difference.
"Their most noxious act of snobbery was to have a low cost hamburger establishment torn down so the local, indigent "trash" wouldn't be seen close to their new (then)
corporate site.
They bought the hamburger business, tore it down, and built a parking lot, which was next to their multi-story parking lot across the street......."
Not exactly. Actually, an old church was sitting on the site of the Tower Building, and the Whitecastle made way for the 6th st. Exit off I-471. Procter does not hassle it's Christian population, quite the contrary. I know, because I worked there for 16 years and my husband for 25.
I worked at the corporate headquarters as a Meeting and Event Coordinator (working directly for Mr. Lafley, and Mr. Pepper, and Mr. Dick Cheney (he was on our board). I will say their moral compass is starting to point south. Mr. Lafley is a buddy of Neutron Jack, and their is WAY TOO much euro influence.
It's gonna be tough to boycott them since they make everything on the planet.
Great points, xzins! Thank you for your insight!!!
I've been boycotting them for years for changing the formula for Head & Shoulders. I was a loyal customer for 25 years and felt pretty crapped on when they ruined my product. I can see adding variations, but keep the original for crying out loud.
Let's name names. What is an equivalent or better detergent than Tide?
Since there's so little difference between any of them, I'll just pick out Surf. Tide costs about 3 times more, so you're just not going to get that much difference in cleaning power to make up that difference in price.
Honestly, the difference are measured by highly sensitive optical devices that can see levels of brightness beyond my ability to even detect. On those machines Tide does come out better in most cases.
But at 3 times the price for a difference not detectable by the human eye...gimmeabreak.
I just reread your question -- you asked for equivalent or BETTER.
I saw equivalent and went with one that would give satisfactory performance.
As far as "better" goes, there really isn't any detergent that does better. P&G works pretty hard to keep it at the top. Within P&G the brand competition between different departments is intense. There was a time when Cheer was pushing more phosphates than Tide and was an arguably better product.
My memory says that in general phosphates performed better than silicates. Environmental concerns were pushing phosphates out of detergents...I'm not sure what became of that. I've not checked the side of boxes in a long while to see if any are still using phosphates.
I've been boycotting P&g for years now, ever since they started dissing the Boy Scouts and their stand on morality. Sent P&G an email and they pretty much said, whatever, we are worldwide. So I've switched everything. Instead of Tide I use Wisk. Instead of Downy(?) I use snuggle.
I really try to pay attention to the manufacturer and automatically pick a non-P&g product.
Ping. Tide keeps my whites white and colors colored. Considering my modest domestic abilities, that transcends politics.
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.