Responding to Ford Motor Company’s recent announcement that it would no longer be advertising in gay and lesbian publications due to cost-cutting measures, one of the internet’s largest gay and lesbian networks has offered Ford free advertising on its websites.

In an email to Ford marketing executives on Monday, Sarah Warn - president and founder of Erosion Media, whose network of websites includes the largest lesbian site online, AfterEllen.com (www.afterellen.com), with over half a million unique users a month – offered Ford three months of free advertising for their Land Rover and Jaguar brands, “no strings attached”, says Warn.

“Gay and lesbian consumers are confused about Ford’s motivations,” explains Warn, “since Ford initially said their decision to cease publicizing the ads was an outgrowth of their meeting with the anti-gay group American Family Association, and later changed their story to say it was just a cost-cutting measure.”

Warn believes her offer provides Ford executives with a way to help clarify their position on this issue. “This is an opportunity for Ford to demonstrate that this has, in fact, just been a misunderstanding,” says Warn, “and that they are still committed to their gay and lesbian consumers.”

Erosion Media’s websites – which include AfterEllen.com, AfterElton.com, Fake Gay News, All Gay News, and The Big Gay Picture - don’t contain adult content, are family friendly, and regularly feature advertisements from other mainstream consumer brands. So the only reason Ford wouldn’t take her up on the offer, contends Warn, is if their decision was politically, rather than financially, motivated. “Because what’s more cost-effective than free?” asks Warn.

As of close of day Monday, Ford has not yet responded to Warn’s offer.

ABOUT EROSION MEDIA, LLC
Erosion Media (www.erosionmedia.com) is dedicated to providing news and entertainment information for underserved populations. Their flagship site AfterEllen.com has been providing breaking entertainment news for lesbian and bisexual women since April 2002, and newer sites serving the broader gay and lesbian community include AfterElton.com (www.afterelton.com), All Gay News (www.allgaynews.com), Fake Gay News (www.fakegaynews.com), and The Big Gay Picture (www.biggaypicture.com).

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