Ew! Forbes.com is offering bloggers money to run ads advocating for Proposition 8, the ballot measure looking to overturn California’s gay marriages. Above you see part of an email sent from one of the website’s flacks.
[via Valleywag]
Get Queerty Daily
Subscribe to Queerty for a daily dose of #business #california #gay stories and more15 Comments
Comments are closed.
fredo777
Lame.
I think they’re just running a client’s ad, though. Still, they could have turned it down.
Richard
Her email is sgitelle@forbes.net in case anyone wants to provide Ms. Gitelle with constructive feedback.
Tweety
I just received a mailer from those sick fools at “Yes on (H)8” that quotes Queerty regarding Obama’s position on Same-Sex Marriage. Is this how they let all the Republican closetcases know how to find some manskin online?
Anon
a little ironic given that the magazine’s namesake (the late Malcolm Forbes) was increasingly open as a gay man toward the end of his life, no?
thom
Here is her contact information: http://www.forbes.com/fdc/business_contacts.html
Dave
I don’t think this automatically means that Forbes.com is taking a political position on this.
The “Yes on 8” people bought ad space with Adify. Adify is an advertising partner of Forbes.com. There is the statement that it “may be potentially objectionable to some of our readers”. Bloggers who run ads from the Forbes ad network must approve the ad before it is run on their site. They could have run the ad without even asking bloggers, but they decided not to because of its objectionable nature.
I’m not sure, but I would guess that if someone purchased “No on 8” ad space from one of their partners, they would have done the same thing.
Forbes is about business, and not about politics. In this case, I think it was about their bottom-line and the advertising $$.
But, having said all that….
I think it would be wise for them to stay away from any politically-divisive ads in the future. The email was an attempt to avoid controversy, but it backfired badly and made it look like a potential endorsement of Prop 8.
ggreen
Yes Macholm Forbes was a big homo and he supposedly left big $$ to many of his male lovers. His son the shiteously ugly and super homophobic Steve Forbes who ran for president (Republican naturally) and is on TV constantly as an “expert” begging for corporate welfare and damning gays.
M Shane
It looks like an endorsement of proposition 8!
regardless of what the “small print may ascertain. The Republican agenda. They rely on deception these days.
Bob
I just e-mailed Ms Gitelle with:
“Thanks for urging discrimination against me and my community, you disgusting bigot.” And signed it. Hope she and her ilk rot in hell.
Lukas
¡Hola tÃo! Acabo de abrirme un blog en Blogger y buscando a través de internet otros de temática me he encontrado con el tuyo. Te dejo la dirección (http://noesotrobloggay.blogspot.com/) por si te apetece echarle un vistazo, ¿ok? Felicidades por el tuyo y espero saber tu opinión del mio, ¡je! Un abrazo.
Puddy Katz
Doesn’t Steve Forbes have like a major lisp or something.
David
This is a message I just sent to a bunch of people at Forbes including Ms. Gitelle.
I am forwarding you this message I sent to your customer service department this morning. I thought perhaps I might get more attention if I contacted you directly as you are the person in charge of placing the “YES ON 8” ads.
As you will see I have sent this to Kevin Naff, the editor of the Washington Blade which is the premier weekly gay newspaper in the country, which we own. I am sure that many of our 1 million readers will be interested in this.
You can contact me if you want.
——————————————————————————–
To: frbcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com
Sent: 11/2/2008 8:13:16 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Cancel my subscription
According to the following–
http://valleywag.com/5072908/forbes-paying-blogs-to-run-anti+gay+marriage-ads
Forbes is spending money on advertising a Yes vote on Proposition 8 in California. I am therefore forced to cancel my subscription. Please forward my refund to my address:
As the owner of the largest gay publishing company with more than 1 million readers of our newspapers in NY, DC, Atlanta, and Ft. Lauderdale/Miami as well as a national magazine, Genre, I will make sure that all of our readers know of this and suggest they cancel their subscriptions as well.
If someone wants to contact me, I can be reached at my business number below. If they want more information, they can go to my website.
Snoodle
I realize it probably doesn’t reflect their own views, but client ad or not, it casts a terrible light on their reputation…
Jeff Jungblut
I wouldn’t blame Forbes for being pro-Prop 8. They’re offering their ad network publishers the option of NOT running the ads.
Last week I discovered “Yes on 8” ads running on my site through Google AdSense without my knowledge, so I disabled AdSense on my site until after the election and replaced all Google ads with “No on 8” ads. I’m losing money daily but I’d rather do that than have a single “Yes on 8” ad be seen and associated with my site.
mjesf
Steve Forbes knows better.
His dad is probably rolling in his grave.