Dear Friends,

While GLAAD has been hard at work fighting defamation against our community in media this year, anti-gay activists continue to put time and money into targeting media that show our lives and community in a fair and accurate way. This month, the anti-gay American Family Association showed their “holiday spirit” by demanding their constituents respond to a LGBT-inclusive advertising campaign released by the Campbell Soup Company.

The ads for Swanson broth ran in the national LBGT news magazine The Advocate. The campaign, entitled “Home for the Holidays,” features a lesbian couple with their son and lists Swanson broth as a key element in the family’s annual Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve celebration (see below). The ad was met with an alert from the AFA that called for e-mails and phone calls attacking the Campbell Soup Company, which owns Swanson’s, for acknowledging that gay people “constitute a family and are worthy of support.”

Check out our post on glaadBLOG for a copy of the ad and resulting media coverage.

Click to enlarge

We cannot let anti-gay forces intimidate our allies and block possitive images of our community. We commend Campbell’s for being inclusive of all families and ask that you too thank them for being fair and inclusive of our lives by e-mailing Campbell Soup President Douglas Conant and Director of Corporate Communications Anthony Sanzio. Follow up with a phone call to the Campbell Soup Company and Swanson and let them know you appreciate their support for LGBT families.

Douglas Conant, President
douglas_r_conant@campbellsoup.com

Anthony Sanzio, Dir. of Corporate Communications
anthony_sanzio@campbellsoup.com

Campbell Soup Company                     
1-800-257-8443

Swanson
1-800-442-7684 

As we enter 2009, anti-gay forces continue to try and silence our community and make us invisible. We must tell our stories, ensure that media is inclusive of our community, and remind people of the common ground that we all share now more than ever.
GLAAD’s media advocacy and anti-defamation work is so vital and your support is so necessary. Our organization exists because of generosity of people like you and we need your support now more than ever at this critical time in the movement. PLEASE DON'T STOP GIVING.

End the year by telling Campbell’s their ads are “mmm mmm good” and help GLAAD fight anti-gay defamation and promote LGBT-inclusive media. On behalf of GLAAD, thank you for your support. Your role in our alliance strengthens us and renews our hope for 2009.

In service,

Neil Giuliano