For those who don't pay attention to companies that make toys for little girls (I have a daughter, so I'm allowed to pay attention), it might surprise some of you that conservative activists such as the American Family Association have started a campaign to boycott American Girl. The reason? American Girl supports Girls Inc., which the Pro-Life Action League's executive director Ann Scheidler explains as follows: "Parents need to know that this effort to promote self-esteem among girls [from Girls Inc.] is not as innocent as it seems. While Girls Inc. has some good programs, they also support abortion, oppose abstinence-only education for girls, and condone lesbianism."
All right, so you oppose Girls Inc. on the grounds that you don't approve of everything they teach, and thus you want to compel a company to withdraw its support by boycotting it because said company gains much from your demographic. That's good, and very commendable. You want to change the status quo. But, I have one question. Why American Girl? If your opposition goes directly to Girls Inc., why would you only attempt to strongarm one supporter? Surely that's an inefficient way to evoke change. If you want to assure that your value system is what is implemented, then don't be so inconsistent as to only attack the weaker links in the chain. Call for a mass boycott. Get them all. I'll help you:
Here is a list of some of the companies that supported Girls Inc. in 2004. Boycott them now, and demand that they withdraw support from this evil organization aimed at helping girls empower themselves:
The Center for Disease Control,
Coca-Cola
American Express
The NFL
New York Life
Panasonic
Tupperware
UPS
The William Randolph Hearst Foundation
SBC
Colgate-Palmolive Corp
Mercedez-Benz
MetLife
Johnson&Johnson
AFTRA
BBC
BET
Anheuser Busch
Fannie May
JP Morgan Chase Corp
Lifetime Television Network
National Geographic
NBC
The Mourning Dove Foundation
New York Life
NASCAR
Toyota
TBS
Toys R Us
20th Century Fox
Random House
SC Johnson
Verizon
Time Warner
WOMEN unlimited
America Online
American Express
Avon
Barnes and Noble
CBS
Disney/ABC
ESPN
Exxon/Mobil
GM
HBO
Home Depot
Kraft Foods
Major League Baseball
NBA/WNBA
PepsiCo
Shell Oil
Tommy Hilfiger
Pfizer
Dreamworks
Bloomingdale's
Chevy Chase Bank
Daimler Chrysler
Etc., etc.
Or, perhaps, instead of alienating a company you claim to love because one of the charitable organizations it supports happens to teach a couple things you personally don't agree with, you could take it upon yourself to instill your values to your family and enjoy the products you buy for your daughter free of the burden of ensuring you never support ANY of the aforementioned companies. Don't try to bully if you aren't sincere about your point.
2 comments:
Good to see someone else is paying attention to the AFA's stupidity.
I don't much care for inconsistency or bullying. If you're going to protest, go all out.
When I was in Korea, they had anti-American demonstrations every spring. These high school and college students got together and stood outside the gates of U.S. military installations and protested U.S. presence in their country. I would have lent a little more credibility had these protests not occurred PRECISELY when these students were hitting their Finals period. It seemed they were more interested in protesting for a week or two and getting out of studying than they were in getting us out of there.
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