Showing posts with label American Family Association (AFA). Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Family Association (AFA). Show all posts

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Will This Pro-Life March Get the Same Media Coverage as the Women's March? - JEN RETALLICK/HAMILTON STRATEGIES

Participants in the 2015 March for Life. (American Life League/Flickr/CC)

Will This Pro-Life March Get the Same Media Coverage as the Women's March?

This past weekend, media around the country provided collective hours of coverage and pages of commentary on the "Women's March" in Washington, D.C., which, in essence, protested the inauguration of President Donald Trump and called for reproductive rights for women.
Now, a group of organizations concerned with saving the lives of the unborn is demanding that the media grant fair coverage to the March for Life at the nation's capital this Friday—Jan. 27, 2017.
The American Family Association (AFA), one of the nation's largest pro-family organizations, along with its One Million Moms division, has signed on as part of the Alliance for Fair Coverage of Life Issues.
"Those who are defending the unborn deserve just as much media coverage as those who are disrespecting the political process and marched in anger in Washington," said AFA President Tim Wildmon. "It's time that the mainstream media give Americans a true picture of our entire society, not only the liberal, progressive, politically correct messages it deems worthy for coverage."
Added One Million Moms Director Monica Cole, "Millions of women—mothers, daughters, wives and sisters—around the country fight every day for unborn babies who never had the chance to reach their God-given potential. Yet their dedication and commitment goes unnoticed to the point of where the rest of the world is kept blind to 'the other side.' Media is supposed to present a fair and unbiased view of the news, but is failing the American people."
Today, the Alliance for Fair Coverage of Life Issues announced its second annual #CoverTheMarch campaign, demanding the media cover the 2017 March for Life and cover it fairly. The annual event in Washington, D.C., draws hundreds of thousands of peaceful participants from all over the country. This year's March for Life marks the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on demand.
The Alliance for Fair Coverage of Life Issues, a coalition of 25 pro-life organizations and two members of Congress was formed in 2016 in response to the consistently poor coverage media outlets have given to important, newsworthy life issues. Last year's censorship of the March for Life (which received only 35 seconds of coverage total from the networks) confirmed the media's contempt for those who don't share their liberal social agenda. Since the media covered the pro-abortion "Women's March on Washington" this year for 4,518 seconds, they should give comparable coverage to the hundreds of thousands of peaceful pro-life marchers.
"The media are no longer the watchdogs for the American public, but the lapdogs of a liberal agenda committed to the destruction of life," reads the coverthemarch.com website. "The Alliance for Fair Coverage of Life Issues calls out journalists for their ongoing blackout of pro-life news and demands reporters live up to the standards of journalistic integrity by covering life issues." Read the Alliance's news release here.
At coverthemarch.com, organizers for the Alliance will engage in a "Tweet-fest" on Twitter on Friday and will represent all partners that have signed on, which include the American Principles Project, Family Research Council, For America, Human Life International, LifeSite News, Media Fairness Caucus, the Susan B. Anthony List, Students for Life, Heartbeat International, Live Action and the Young America's Foundation. View a full list of member organizations at coverthemarch.com.
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

These 11 Retailers Are Effectively Declaring War on Christmas

These 11 Retailers Are Effectively Declaring War on Christmas

christmas shopping
The American Family Association is urging retailers to incorporate the word "Christmas" in their holiday marketing. (CharismaNews file)
Just in time for Black Friday shopping, American Family Association (AFA) has released its annual "Naughty or Nice" list of retailers who either embrace Christmas in their seasonal shopping campaigns or leave it out in the cold.
With the goal of keeping Christ in Christmas, AFA has reviewed the websites, media advertising and in-store signage of the top 100 national retailers in an effort to help consumers know which companies are Christmas-friendly and which are acting like "Scrooge."
"There are concerted efforts in our country to eliminate 'Christmas' because the word itself is a reminder of Jesus Christ," said AFA President Tim Wildmon. "Those who hate Christ want to eradicate anything that reminds Americans of Christianity. That is why it is important to remind companies to keep the word 'Christmas' alive. AFA wants to keep Christ in Christmas and Christmas in America."
AFA rates the retailers in four categories. AFA "5-Star" retailers promote and celebrate Christmas on an exceptional basis. These include: Belk, Hobby Lobby, Lowe's, Sears and Wal-Mart.
"Nice" retailers use the term "Christmas" on a regular basis and are considered "Christmas-friendly." The "Nice" list includes about 45 retailers, from Amazon.com to Zappos.com.
Thirteen retailers this year made the "Marginal" list, meaning these companies refer to Christmas infrequently or only in select advertising mediums.
The 11 retailers on the "Naughty" list may use "Christmas" sparingly in a single or unique product description, but as companies, do not recognize it. These include: Barnes & Noble, Family Dollar, Foot Locker, Limited Brands, Maurice's, Office Depot, Office Max, PetSmart, Staples, Supervalu and Victoria's Secret.
Last week, AFA announced a Christmas shopping boycott of the national pet retailer PetSmart for omitting any references to Christmas in its shopping promotions.
"PetSmart has ignored the pleas of its shoppers and AFA for years and doesn't deserve your business," Wildmon said. "As consumers, let's tell PetSmart that we won't be doing any Christmas shopping for Fido and Fluffy in its stores this year."
AFA reached out to PetSmart in 2007 and 2011 regarding its glaring omission of the word "Christmas"—with no response.
Soon after AFA sent the PetSmart Action Alert to its one million-plus friends and supporters last week, PetSmart sent a promotional email to its own consumer list, using the word "Christmas," but PetSmart's newfound "Christmas" spirit appears relegated to this one email and a small gift labeled "Merry Christmas" in a television commercial, with no indication of any real change on the part of the retailer.
In 2013, AFA encouraged a similar boycott of the Christmas-unfriendly Radio Shack, which saw dismal electronics sales and was forced to close 200 locations this year. In fact, many of Radio Shack's franchise owners joined AFA in urging the company to include "Christmas" in its marketing. This year, the shopping season at Radio Shack looks much different. The tech retailer began using "Christmas" well before the end of October. In fact, in a press release dated Oct. 22, Radio Shack promoted an "exclusive lineup of Christmas gifts."
In the past, AFA has called out Wal-Mart, Lowe's and Sears, urging them to use "Christmas" in their marketing efforts. Wal-Mart responded by stating, "We learned a valuable lesson. Next year, we will use Christmas early and often." Today, all three retailers are on AFA's "5-Star" list and have even set up Christmas shops inside their stores.