The AFA, which regularly fights LGBT civil rights legislation, originally bought time to broadcast the infomercial on Monday at 7 p.m. but the station moved it when President Obama announced an 8 p.m. news conference.

“We didn’t feel that it was the appropriate place, leading into the presidential event,” WOOD-TV program director Craig Cole said.

The station then slated the infomercial to run on Wednesday.  But as opposition mounted and hundreds of e-mails began flooding the station, Cole suggested to the AFA that it run on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Late Wednesday, station manager Diane Kniowski said the AFA had not responded to the offer to run the paid program on Saturday and that it was pulling the show.

“We made a gesture of the 2-3 p.m. Saturday time period. It’s been 24 hours and we had no response,” Kniowski said in a statement.

“Our station is being bombarded with calls and messages, and we find ourselves in the middle of someone else’s fight. Ours was a fair offer and we are removing ourselves from this matter.”

It is believed the AFA is attempting to negotiate with other stations across the country to carry the hour-long program.

The infomercial, “Speechless: Silencing Christians,” is hosted by conservative talk show host Janet Parshall. In a 2006 appearance on the Larry King show on CNN, Parshall suggested Matthew Shepard’s “lifestyle” was responsible for his murder and called gay adoption “state-sanctioned child abuse.”

“‘Speechless’ purposely promote lies and distortions,” the national LGBT rights group Human Rights Campaign said in a statement to its members which led to the e-mail campaign to the TV station.

The program says that if hate crimes laws are passed, pastors will be prosecuted for preaching what the Bible says about homosexuality. It also claims that legislation providing employment protection based on sexual orientation or gender identity will force churches to hire homosexuals.

The show additionally says that allowing the government to redefine marriage hurts children because studies show children need a mother and father to do well in life.

“This should be our wake-up call.  We are poised to make real progress, for the first time, for millions of LGBT Americans.  We know it and so do our opponents,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese.

“We must stand guard and not allow them to stop these overdue, basic protections by rolling out the same, tired script albeit in new packaging.  Today’s action proves we have the voices and the power to demand a fair fight and a fair debate.”

Although WOOD-TV has dropped the program, it is available online at the AFA Web site.

The conservative group, which boasts more than two-million members, has previously targeted companies it says supports LGBT issues.

In January, it urged supporters to sign an online pledge to boycott Pepsi products and to call the company to tell it “to stop promoting the homosexual agenda.”

“In the last two years, Pepsi has given $500,000 to the Human Rights Campaign and $500,000 to the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. The $1,000,000 was to be used to help promote homosexuality in the workplace,” the AFA said at the time.

In October, it ended a boycott of McDonald’s after the fast-food giant agreed to end its support for the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.  In addition, a company employee to was appointed to chamber’s board of directors resigned.

McDonald’s incurred the wrath of the AFA after it made a $20,000 donation to the chamber, and Richard Ellis, who until September was vice president of communications for the chain, was named to the chamber’s board of directors. The company said Ellis resigned after moving to McDonald’s Canadian operation.

The AFA previously boycotted Disney for several years over its support for Gay Days at Disney World, although the company was not an official sponsor of the event.

It boycotted Cincinnati-based Proctor and Gamble over the company’s support for the repeal of a city charter amendment that prevented Cincinnati city council from enacting any laws that would recognize gays and lesbians.

The group boycotted Kraft for its support of the Chicago Gay Games and threatened to boycott Wal-Mart over its involvement with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

An AFA boycott of Ford was heralded as a success by the organization, which noted that it had resulted in a drop in sales and share value.  But most financial analysts said that Ford’s problems were really the result of vehicle designs that failed to impress the public. Ford was the only carmaker of the Detroit big three to decline a federal bailout.

The conservative Christian group launched its nationwide boycott of Ford in 2005 over the automaker’s support for LGBT issues, briefly put it on hold and then reinstated it.

The AFA claimed victory when Ford began pulling its ads from LGBT publications, but industry observers and the company said the ad pullout was part of a downsizing of expenses.

Campbell advertising in The Advocate fueled the AFA campaign. The ads featured a recipe for a butternut squash bisque made with Swanson chicken broth and depicted a lesbian couple and their young son in the kitchen, at “home for the holidays.”

The last line of ad copy read, “This holiday season, serve a special meal no matter the size and structure of your family. The secret is Swanson.”

The tone of the AFA form letter, posted on the organization’s Web site, is simmering rather than boiling:

“I am disappointed that Campbell Soup has decided to help promote the homosexual agenda and same-sex marriage. Your decision to support the homosexual agenda and same-sex marriage is unacceptable. I will alert my family and friends about your decision. Campbell Soup will no longer have an image of a clean and wholesome, all-American company. Now it will be known as the company which believes homosexual practice and same-sex marriage are good for our country.”

I’m pretty sure the group still would have objected had the ad contained a recipe for good old-fashioned chicken and rice.

Yes, the AFA doesn’t think Campbell’s is so M’m! M’m! Good!

I briefly went through a period of annoyance with Campbell’s, not over advertising but because the company’s Curly Noodle soup is so m’m good yet I couldn’t find a can in any grocery store within 20 miles of my apartment. I know, you’re thinking what’s the difference between Campbell’s Curly Noodle and Campbell’s Chicken Noodle? Well, I’ll tell you, there is a vast difference.

Curly Noodle contains curly noodles.

I was and still am a Campbell Kid. I was having a good day at school when I opened my lunch box and found hot soup and a Hostess Ding Dong instead of a bologna sandwich and a Little Debbie snack cake. I was having a perfect snow day with school closed when I trudged home from a snowball fight or sledding for hot soup with my mom.

Andy Warhol, as if you didn’t know, was a Campbell Kid too, but perhaps not as enthusiastic as I.

“I used to drink it,” he was quoted as saying. “I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, I guess, the same thing over and over again.”

In fact, a lot of people going back a lot of generations can probably say they were Campbell Kids and probably are now Swanson on-the-go adults, as maybe still Campbell Kids at heart. At the last potluck I attended, probably half the dishes on the table contained a Campbell product of some sort, including four green-bean casseroles made with cream of mushroom soup.

The AFA did not call for a boycott of Campbell Soup, but some of its members probably made up their minds not to stuff their turkeys with dressing made with Swanson broth.

And then, there are the letters — easily fired off from the AFA Web site to Campbell corporate in Camden, N.J.

So it seems appropriate that we let Campbell know that while the AFA stews, we dine.

Take time for a hot lunch today.

And while you go searching for G, L, B, T in a bowl of Campbell Kids Alphabet Soup, pen a letter to Campbell Soup president Donald Conant (douglas_r_conant@campbellsoup.com).

Tell him you are pleased the company did not let the AFA bully it into pulling advertising in The Advocate. Tell him you appreciate that the company earned a 100-percent ranking in the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate index. Tell him you grew up a Campbell Kid.

And please, tell him to make more Curly Noodle.

The AFA, in an Action Alert to its more than two-million members, urges supporters to sign an online pledge to boycott Pepsi products and to call the company to tell it “to stop promoting the homosexual agenda.”

“PepsiCo has refused a request by AFA to remain neutral in the culture war,” the Action Alert said.

“In the last two years, Pepsi has given $500,000 to the Human Rights Campaign and $500,000 to the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. The $1,000,000 was to be used to help promote homosexuality in the workplace,” the AFA said.

“Pepsi refuses to give money to any pro-family organization that opposes the homosexual agenda. Plus, every homosexual organization we know of is overwhelmingly pro-abortion,” according to the Action Alert.

Previous AFA boycotts have had impact on companies, although the group has had some success.

In October it ended a boycott of McDonald’s after the fast-food giant agreed to end its support for the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.  In addition, a company employee to was appointed to chamber’s board of directors resigned.

McDonald’s incurred the wrath of the AFA after it made a $20,000 donation to the chamber, and Richard Ellis, who until September was vice president of communications for the chain was named to the chamber’s board of directors. The company said Ellis resigned after moving to McDonald’s Canadian operation.

The AFA previously boycotted Disney for several year’s over its support for Gay Days at Disney World, although the company was not an official sponsor of the event.

It boycotted Cincinnati-based Proctor and Gamble over the company’s support for the repeal of a city charter amendment that prevented Cincinnati city council from enacting any laws that would recognize gays and lesbians.

The group boycotted Kraft for its support of the Chicago Gay Games and threatened to boycott Wal-Mart over its involvement with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

An AFA boycott of Ford was heralded as a success by the organization which noted that it had resulted in a drop in sales and share value.  But most financial analysts said that Ford’s problems were really the result of vehicle designs that failed to impress the public. Ford was the only carmaker of the Detroit big three to decline a federal bailout.

The conservative Christian group launched its nationwide boycott of Ford in 2005 over the automaker’s support for LGBT issues, briefly put it on hold and then reinstated it.

The AFA claimed victory when Ford began pulling its ads from LGBT publications, but industry observers and the company said the ad pullout was part of a downsizing of expenses.

In addition, a company employee appointed to the chamber’s board of directors has resigned.

McDonald’s incurred the wrath of the AFA after it made a $20,000 donation to the chamber, and Richard Ellis, who until last month was vice president of communications for the chain, was named to the chamber’s
board of directors.

The company at first resisted AFA’s demands that it sever ties with the chamber. In a July response to the conservative group that fights LGBT issues nationwide, McDonald’s Global Chief Diversity Officer Pat Harris said: "We have a well-established and proud heritage of associating with individuals and organizations that share our belief that every person has the right to live and work in their community free of discrimination."

But now in an e-mailed memo to franchise holders, the company said it has dropped ties with the chamber.

"It is our policy to not be involved in political and social issues. McDonald’s remains neutral on same-sex marriage or any ‘homosexual agenda’ as defined by the American Family Association." 

Richard Ellis is no longer with corporate headquarters.  He is now with the company’s Canadian operation.

The e-mail said that Ellis stepped down from the chamber’s board "voluntarily."

"We appreciate the decision by McDonald’s to no longer support political activity by homosexual activist organizations," the AFA said in a statement to its members calling off the boycott.

The AFA previously boycotted Disney for several year’s over its support for Gay Days at Disney World, although the company was not an official sponsor of the event.

It boycotted Cincinnati-based Proctor and Gamble over the company’s support for the repeal of a city charter amendment that prevented Cincinnati city council from enacting any laws that would recognize gays and lesbians.

The group boycotted Kraft for its support of the Chicago Gay Games and threatened to boycott Wal-Mart over its involvement with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

The boycotts resulted in little impact on the companies.

The AFA boycott of Ford was heralded as a success by the organization which noted that it had resulted in a drop in sales and share value.  But most financial analysts said that Ford’s problems were really the result of vehicle designs that failed to impress the public. 

The conservative Christian group launched a nationwide boycott of Ford in 2005 over the automaker’s support for LGBT issues, briefly put it on hold, and then reinstated it.

The AFA claimed victory when Ford began pulling its ads from LGBT publications, but industry observers and the company said the ad pullout was part of a downsizing of expenses.