Focus on the Family and the American Family Association (AFA) have launched a boycott of Procter & Gamble (P&G) targeting such products as Crest toothpaste, Tide detergent and Pampers diapers because the conglomerate has lent support to the homosexual agenda.
The latest reasons for the boycott are based on P&G’s support of a ballot measure in Cincinnati, where the company is headquartered, to repeal a 1993 city charter amendment — Article 12 — prohibiting homosexual rights laws.
The Associated Press reports that a P&G executive was granted leave to run the campaign and the company donated $40,000 to the effort. The ballot measure passed with 54 percent of the votes Nov. 2, clearing the way for Cincinnati officials to pass a law protecting homosexuals from discrimination.
“There is significant misunderstanding of our reasons for joining the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and other businesses in supporting Cincinnati’s ballot issue,” said Doug Shelton, P&G spokesperson.
‘About morals’
“Unfortunately, there has also been an attempt to link other unrelated issues to Article 12. As a company, we simply don’t advocate any particular lifestyle. That is just not our business,” he said.
But Randy Sharp, AFA’s director of special projects, contends that moral issues regarding other P&G actions are related to Article 12.
And the boycott will continue because of this, he said. “The issue is about a major American corporation who serves millions and millions of families with their products becoming involved in a political and social agenda outside of their company,” Sharp told Baptist Press.
“Not only did they support the repeal of Article 12, but we have found numerous instances in which they have supported gay pride parades, placed ads in homosexual magazines, they support conferences across America, which are designed to promote the homosexual agenda.
“And when you couple all of those things together, I don’t think there’s any question that P&G is one of the nation’s leading companies in supporting the idea behind same-sex ‘marriage,’” he said.
More than 300,000 people have joined the boycott by signing a pledge on the AFA Web site, and thousands more have signed hundreds of petitions that have circulated around the country, Sharp said.
But Shelton contends, “We respect our employee and consumer base — including those consumers who are currently boycotting our products. We are confident that concerned consumers who look closely at the facts in this situation would agree that our positions and motivations have been misrepresented.”
But representing Southern Baptists, Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said, “Procter & Gamble’s blatant support of homosexual-friendly corporate policies and community statutes places them on the list of companies that must concern American families.
“When P&G or any company uses the proceeds from sales of their products to fund their pro-homosexual agenda, we need to take notice,” Land said.
Sharp said the boycott is also to encourage the company to recognize the health and social dangers of homosexuality and to not lend their financial support to that agenda. He noted that some people are choosing to boycott all P&G products. To determine if a product is made by P&G, look for the manufacturer’s name on the back or bottom of the product.
“I really believe that over the course of the next year or two we’ll begin to see that a consumer boycott is having an effect on P&G’s bottom line,” he said, adding that since other variables could cause a fluctuation in earnings, time is needed to let the boycott run its course and then analyze the data.
Sharp, a Southern Baptist, noted that P&G is the first national corporation to become politically involved in a homosexual agenda issue.
“For Southern Baptists, there comes a point when we have to put our faith and our principles of faith above economy,” he said. “We’ve got to stick together. We believe homosexuality is wrong and we’ve got to put our faith and principles before personal gain.”
(BP, Anthony Wade contributed)
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