Posted: 10/01/04
Focus on the Family joins call for Procter & Gamble boycott
By Adelle Banks
Religion News Service
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (RNS)–Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson has encouraged listeners to his radio program to boycott Procter & Gamble products because of what he calls the company's “tacit endorsement of gay marriage,” but the Cincinnati manufacturer says conservative groups are mistaken about its stance.
“For Procter and 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.”
Procter & Gamble's donation of $10,000 to a campaign for the repeal of a city ordinance barring enactment of gay rights laws is not related to the marriage issue, said company spokesman Doug Shelton.
“Our company supports repeal of Article 12 in the city of Cincinnati, which removed from our city council the authority to enact any ordinances that would protect individuals from discrimination,” Shelton said. “The two issues are separate and distinct, and our company has not taken a position on the definition of marriage.”
He said Dobson correctly stated that the company “will not tolerate discrimination in any form, against anyone for any reason.”
Shelton said his company thinks the city's ordinance, which he said is the only one of its kind in the country, has hurt the region's economy.
“The perception with this ordinance on the books is that Cincinnati is not a very welcoming place to live or to start a career, so we lose a lot of people who do not want to come to Cincinnati because they feel that the city is intolerant,” he said.
Dobson recommended that his listeners boycott two of the company's best-known brands: Crest toothpaste and Tide laundry detergent.
The American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization based in Tupelo, Miss., asked its supporters to participate in the same boycott.
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