Avis won't back
down from pro-gay ads

An antigay group in Massachussets is encouraging its members to deluge Avis with e-mails complaining about the rental car company's ads in gay publications. On its Web site, the Article Eight Alliance carries an image of the ad showing two men embracing in a hammock, promoting the company's policy of including domestic partners as additional drivers at no extra charge. The alliance says the ads appear in what it calls "hard-core homosexual magazines across the country." But an Avis spokeswoman says the ads have only appeared in mainstream gay publications like The Advocate and Out. Susan McGowan says Avis has received hundreds of e-mails since the Article Eight Alliance posting, some criticizing the ads. But she says most have been--in her words--"supportive and nice." McGowan says the gay-targeted ads are part of a wider effort by Avis to "target diverse markets," including Hispanics and seniors. And she says the company "doesn't plan on changing." (Sirius OutQ News)