Saudis may be known for a lot of things, but let's face it – comedy is not one of them. Israelis on the other hand... have you seen The Zohan? In any event, it's not surprising that people in Saudi Arabia are outraged at something from Israel, but this time it has nothing to do with military actions or residential construction, and to be fair, while talk of boycotts is filling the air once again, they're not actually blaming Israel itself for anything. Instead, Nissan is the boycott target.
The spate was started by a commercial Israeli TV that depicts Arabian oil sheikhs getting medieval on a Nissan Tiida. The implication is that the car's fuel efficiency is harming the sheikhs' business interests. The Saudi regime, along with other oil-producing Gulf states, is threatening to boycott Nissan – which itself is collaborating on the development of the Project Better Place electric car system in Israel – if the automaker doesn't apologize.
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The American Family Association began a boycott of all Ford products back in March 2006 because it disagreed with Ford's marketing practices in gay-centric media outlets, as well as its policy of offering insurance benefits to same-sex couples. The Detroit News is reporting that the AFA has called off its righteous hounds, ending the boycott because it claims that after months of monitoring, Ford has finally met its conditions. (The thought of a homophobic group reading gay periodicals looking for Ford ads strikes us as extremely humorous.) On its website, the AFA alerts its members that, "Individuals are free to purchase Ford vehicles again."
In reality, Ford has done nothing to appease the AFA. It continues to offer benefits to same-sex couples and the only reason it has reduced or stopped advertising in gay pubs is because mounting losses in the U.S. have shrunk its marketing budget. The same goes for charitable donations to gay-related causes, there's just no money to spare during these hard times at Ford. The AFA even acknowledges that Ford has not really met its conditions, saying, "A few minor issues remain, and we will continue to bring these to the attention of Ford."
The AFA is taking credit for something it had nothing to do with and putting words in the Dearborn company's mouth, kind of like when the organization claimed that its boycott was the reason for Ford's sales slump in recent years. Yeah, it wouldn't have anything to do with a lineup that was overflowing with trucks and SUVs, increased competition from Japan, the high cost of health care, or any one of a hundred actually valid reasons.
