This week’s dust-up over advertising in gay publications at Land Rover and Jaguar will have some long-lasting effects on the company’s reputation—particularly with gay and lesbian car shoppers interested in those brands, according to data from Gaywheels.com.
Founder Joe LaMuraglia says his site, which provides a place where shoppers can judge the gay-friendly policies of automakers as they shop for a new vehicle, has had a long-running survey that charts the auto preferences of gay and lesbian car shoppers. And according to the site’s data, about 88 percent of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) Jaguar and Land Rover owners consider a company’s policies towards GLBT employees before purchasing, an extremely high percentage based on a small survey sample. The same percentage of GLBT Jaguar and Land Rover owners say it is important to advertise in the GLBT media, and say they’re more likely to buy a vehicle if the brand advertises in the GLBT media. Most critically, about 38 percent of GLBT Jag and Land Rover owners have a household income of $100,000 or more.
It’s too early to tell if Ford’s morass with the American Family Association and GLBT shoppers will have any effect on sales—but numbers like those are sure to be causing heartburn somewhere in Dearborn.
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