Follow-up on AFA vs. Ford

It looks more like the AFA has caved than that Ford has caved.

Ford spokesman Jim Cain insists the automaker had made no such promises. "I can tell you there was not a negotiated settlement to this boycott," he says, sounding somewhat mystified by AFA's triumphalism. [Source: Conde Nast's Portfolio.com]

A careful parsing of the AFA press release shows that there was no actual settlement with Ford, just a decision by the AFA based upon their "monitoring" of Ford's activities over the past year. The Ford spokesman quoted above said Ford was currently reducing media exposure overall in response to a dismal market and falling business, not because of a re-assessment of Ford's commitment to civil rights:

Our principles have not changed. Ford is committed to treating everyone fairly and with respect ... Ford will continue to market its products widely to attract as many customers as possible and make charitable contributions to strengthen communities to the extent business conditions allow. Difficult business conditions in recent years have reduced our overall spending across the board. [Source: The Boston Edge]

So, life goes on, and Eric Hogue can continue his wailing and his gnashing of teeth. Thanks to solarbird for keeping track of this; she had the answer even before it came across my RSS feed.