Hey all,

I got this message from my friend, Mike, who runs this site. Check it out if you can.

Last week, CommercialCloset.org was part of an attack by the
Mississippi-based fundamentalist group American Family Association against
gay-friendly advertising by Procter & Gamble Co., makers of Tide, Crest,
Clairol, Bounty, Max Factor, Tampax, Folgers, Iams, and hundreds of
products.

The AFA is boycotting P&G due to a print ad for Downy Wrinkle Releaser
that showed two men in bed together (albeit a shadowy, blurry image)
and a pile of clothing at the foot of their bed with the headline, "You
were more concerned with taking them off than folding them up."
Ironically, the ad only ran once -- four years ago, in Toronto, Canada.

The AFA alert linked to our site, and its millions of members hammered
us with 1.5 million hits an hour, bringing CommercialCloset.org out of
operation for nearly three days on Sept. 29, 30 and Oct. 1. The traffic
was from individuals, not an automated software program. (See details
of their boycott here http://www.pgboycott.com/pgproofemail.asp )

Because we've been forced to temporarily take down the Downy Wrinkle
Releaser ad page to run our site, here is a PDF copy of our web page --
served from THEIR site: http://www.pgboycott.com/pgcommercialcloset.pdf

CommercialCloset.org returned to service late Friday last week, and
we've gotten hundreds of messages like these:
--------------------------------------------------------
*Aaron Cottrell - I'm glad you guys were shut down for 3 days, that was
3 days without your disgusting ads!!!

*Hattie G Walker - You are so wrong to promote homosexual sex when you
know that it is against God's Law. You have totally lost me and my
family as a consumer and I am going to tell all my friends about your
agenda. I pray you will repent and ask God to forgive you!!!

*John - It is a disgrace that P&G would stoop to showing indecent
behavior in their ads. Promoting a lifestyle that causes pain and is
detrimental to health.
-------------------------------------------------------

The AFA and fundamentalists are working hard to scare P&G and all
corporations for gay-friendly advertising.

Go to CommercialCloset.org to check out the site.

So the CommercialCloset.org site was shut down because of the volume of these fundamentalists going to the site? If so, then what happens if we listen to the last line of this post: "Go to CommercialCloset.org and check out the site"? Wouldn't we shut it down? Wouldn't it be better to go to the fundies' website and shut THEM down?

The "attack" is over. I think it's safe now.

Hmmm... like if we all went there and filled out their online hate petition with bogus names and addresses and email addresses like "HateIsNotA@FamilyValue.com"

As far as I know, this person is not related to me.

Also, I just wanted to let everyone know that commercialcloset.org is actually used as a teaching device at many colleges. GLBT advertising is a big topic amongst advertising and marketing programs. My partner said one of his professors is actually writing a book on it and uses the website quite frequently.

If only gay people were as organized as those anti-gay fanatics.... It still surprises me that they want to boycott a wholesome company like P&G (Tide, Crest, et. al.) considering so many other companies advertise to and support the gay community... including most alcoholic beverage companies.

And cheers to Grey Advertising for producing that ad. The aptly-named Grey is generally known for very bland, middle-of-the-road ads.

Although it supposedly ran in Toronto, I can't say I recall this ad. Of course those anti-gay fanatics are just bringing attention to it with their protest. I'm off to the store now to buy some Downy Wrinkle Release...

[ October 06, 2004, 06:25 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

What a bunch of ass****s.

For related info on the P&G boycott, go to
Urban Legends web site about P&G

[ October 06, 2004, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: willyboy ]

Knowing about the "boycott," but not the attack on CommercialCloset, I had previously sent an email to P&G, thanking them for their support in attempting to overturn the viciously anti-gay Cincinnati law (which prevents any anti-discrimination ordinances for gay people), which is the reason for the boycott.

Hopefully, this boycott will have the same effectiveness as the one the Southern Baptists pulled against Disney (it was cancelled last year, I believe).

No matter the ignorance of the Right, it always befuddles me how stupid they are when it comes to who they target. They were looking to boycot P&G and instead went after some independent website that has nothing to do with P&G and sends them hate mail about P&G. And whats sad is the people didnt even know who or what theyre targeting or why, but they have drive and conviction. Its like a swarm of locusts when they get their mind on something.

Not to be confused with this urban legend about P&G (note the Amway connection) eek! . Exactly. When I worked for a newspaper, we frequently got calls from listeners to the religious radio station who called just because "Pastor Vic" told them to call. Most, when asked, said they hadn't read the article in question (even one that they were told to say they liked). They're taught to obey their "leaders" so they do. You can guess how seriously their calls were taken.