Key AFA boycotts, campaigns, initiatives

March–May 1978

Sears boycott

After National Federation for Decency’s first TV monitoring report is released in February 1978, it is discovered that Sears – despite its family-friendly image – is one of the largest buyers of ad time on the top sexual and profane shows (Soap, Charlie’s Angels, and Three’s Company). Initial meetings with Sears’ executives go nowhere, and Don flies to Chicago in May to protest outside the Sears corporate headquarters. National protests occur at local Sears stores in 29 other cities. Sears relents and changes its ad spending, eventually spearheading a meeting of 20 top advertising executives to discuss concerns over the current direction of television programming. This is the first major victory for NFD.

June 1981

Gene Mater debate

Don debates Gene Mater (vice president of CBS) at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The debate centers around the legitimacy of Don’s approach to activism and the values that undergird his concerns. Although network executives hope to squash NFD, by most accounts, Don holds his own or even wins the debate.

February 1981–January 1983

CBTV

Don forms Coalition for Better Television (CBTV) with Jerry Falwell, Phyllis Schlafly, Beverly LaHaye, and 150 other Christian leaders representing a wide array of groups in order to put more muscle behind the boycotts of network TV advertisers. The group consults with ad executives and conducts a boycott of electronics company RCA (parent company of NBC network) before disbanding in 1983 due to leadership differences.

January 1983–April 1986

7-Eleven boycott

The largest American retailer of Playboy and Penthouse magazines is the convenience store chain 7-Eleven, owned by the Southland Corporation. Southland resists numerous pickets and letter-writing campaigns organized by NFD, but as pressure mounts, the company eventually succumbs, stating that it will remove the magazines.

December 1985–January 1994

CLeaR-TV

Don forms coalition named Christian Leaders for Responsible Television (CLeaR-TV). The group responds to sex, violence, and anti-Christian themes on television. It represents over 1,600 Christian leaders and conducts multiple successful campaigns against advertisers such as Mazda, Noxell, Mennen, Clorox, Burger King, Pfizer, and SC Johnson.

August 1986–1990

Holiday Inn boycott

NFD becomes concerned about the availability of in-room pornographic movies at hotel and motel chains. Holiday Inn is the most reluctant to hear Don’s concerns and becomes the focus of a prolonged five-year boycott that is endorsed by numerous church organizations, denominations, and individual Christians across the U.S.

July 1988–September 1988
‘The Last Temptation
of Christ’ campaign

As the release of Martin Scorsese’s blasphemous The Last Temptation of Christ approaches, AFA responds by organizing a petition campaign to local theaters asking them not to show the movie. Thousands upon thousands of Christians respond, leading to a 25,000-person march in front of Universal Studios in Los Angeles in August 1988. The film only releases on 130 screens nationwide (as compared to the originally planned several hundred to a thousand) and suffers major financial losses as a result.

April 1989

PepsiCo boycott

AFA boycotts PepsiCo in response to the company signing a $5 million advertising contract with pop star Madonna. AFA cites the overall offensive nature of Madonna’s music/performances, with the specific example of the overtly sexual and misused Christian imagery in her music video “Like a Prayer.” A month later, PepsiCo cancels not only the planned advertisements with Madonna but also its sponsorship of her “Like a Prayer: World Tour.”

May 1989–1993

National Endowment
for the Arts campaign

AFA discovers that National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has been using taxpayer money to fund blasphemous and pornographic artwork, with recent examples being the obscene work of Robert Mapplethorpe, Andres Serrano, and David Wojnarowicz. To highlight the concern, AFA sends flyers to U.S. representatives and senators, church leaders, and media outlets. This induces a prolonged national debate about art, obscenity, censorship, and government funding of art, which leads to NEA nearly losing its funding on several occasions.

June 1990–August 2007

AFA Law Center

In response to the NEA controversy and the success of the convenience store boycotts, numerous groups – including Playboy and Penthouse – try to sue Don, AFA, and AFA affiliates. This leads to the formation of the AFA Law Center (later, AFA Center for Law & Policy) to not only defend AFA but to also offer defense for Christian activists across the country. The Law Center eventually closes in 2007 after other Christian litigation groups, such as the Alliance Defense Fund (now Alliance Defending Freedom), are formed to handle these kinds of cases.

May 1991–November 1995

Kmart boycott

AFA targets Waldenbooks (owned by Kmart) for selling pornography in its bookstores. AFA organizes a “family motorcade” to picket Kmart stores across America, sends out 20 million “Boycott Kmart” cards, and over the years, runs ads in multiple newspapers promoting the boycott. Kmart’s CEO eventually resigns in 1995 amid declining profits. The new CEO sells the Waldenbooks arm to another company and requests that AFA end its boycott of Kmart.

July 1993–May 1995

‘NYPD Blue’ campaign

AFA learns that ABC is producing TV’s first R-rated series and plans to push the envelope with nudity, violence, and profanity. AFA organizes pickets of numerous ABC affiliate stations across the country, pressuring the affiliates to refuse to run the show when it premieres in the fall. AFA also initiates boycotts against some of the show’s sponsors such as Unilever. Although many affiliates initially refuse to carry the program, the show is a massive hit for ABC and runs for 12 seasons.

February 1996–May 2005

Disney boycott

After many years of watching The Walt Disney Company normalize  homosexuality through gay-partner benefits, obscene films released through its Miramax division, and secret “gay days” at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, AFA announces a boycott of the famed “family-friendly” media and entertainment company. Disney leadership is reluctant to acknowledge the boycott, even as many Christian groups, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, join in. AFA pursues the boycott for nine years, eventually calling it off in 2005, claiming the point had been made, despite Disney not changing its trajectory.

May 1997–March 2004

Howard Stern campaign

AFA begins combating the filth from Howard Stern’s controversial radio show. By coordinating a monitoring program in key markets across the U.S., AFA is able to put pressure on national and local sponsors to drop the show. After six months of concerted effort, Stern’s show loses 75% of its advertisers, causing him to rail against AFA on-air and threaten to sue. AFA also pushes the FCC to penalize Stern for his obscenity, which it finally does in March 2004.

May 2005–March 2008

Ford boycott

AFA exposes the fact that Ford Motor Company has been quietly supporting numerous homosexual causes and crafting gay-specific advertisements for the past several years. While there is initially a quick response and an agreement with Ford officials, Ford reneges on the agreement, leading to a prolonged boycott through 2006 and 2007. Through the pressure applied by AFA and the added response of Ford dealers from Texas, Ford finally agrees to the original terms and changes its course in March 2008.

July 2010–September 2013

The Home Depot boycott

The Home Depot’s sponsoring of gay pride events leads AFA to apply pressure to get the company to be neutral in the culture war. Despite delivering over 500,000 boycott pledges to The Home Depot shareholders’ meeting in June 2011, the corporation remains reluctant to change. Three years later, despite public claims by corporate leadership to have made no change, AFA observes that changes have been made and ends the boycott.

April 2016–present

Target boycott

Target changes its bathroom policy to allow men who identify as women to access women’s bathrooms and changing rooms in its stores. AFA calls for a boycott of the Target Corporation. Over a million signatures initially received in the first few months of the boycott are delivered to Target headquarters by Tim and Walker Wildmon. Target refuses to change its ways. The boycott continues.