This first part covers it all. This is why the backlash. People don't like being told what to do or believe or accept. So when a company like Oreo picks a side...it's a BAD business decision. I don't eat cookies so thankfully I don't have to care about this but I don't understand why companies try to cut their own throats like this.
Put it in perspective. Should Oreo also have Atheist cookies? How about God cookies? Democrat/Republican cookies? Maybe next month they should just make the cream filling black and have Black Panther cookies.
This isn't like supporting a specific cause...a lot of people fall in the middle but there are clearly support homosexuality at all cost groups and despise it at all cost groups. This is still a hot topic issue and CLEARLY agenda driven because from a business standpoint it's a horrible decision.
I disagree. There's a reason that more and more companies are trying to appeal directly to the LGBT community or their supporters, and it's not for altruistic reasons. These companies' marketing departments clearly see a benefit to gay-friendly advertising or they wouldn't be doing it. They don't do anything without running the numbers and doing market research. Gays and lesbians represent a large market segment with much higher than average disposable income.
Further, a majority (or close to a majority, depending on whose numbers you use) of Americans now support same sex unions, either in the form of marriage or separate-but-equal civil unions. Being seen as having a product in sync with the prevailing values also has marketing benefits. I think this sort of thing is only divisive among the fringe, and you can be sure they gain more from this sort of thing than they lose from a few fringe knuckle-draggers boycotting them.