Victory! Lacoste and Fiat Agree Not to Advertise in Magazine that Prints Rape Threats

Earlier this month we introduced a campaign targeted at the Argentine magazine El Guardián, which printed an article by Juan Terranova in which he threatened to rape an activist working to put an end to street harassment. When we didn't receive a response from the magazine, we targeted two major advertisers in the magazine, Lacoste and Fiat, demanding that they pull their advertising campaigns from El Guardián.

And WE WON!

Today, after nearly 1,200 signatures on our Change.org petition and a whirlwind social media campaign using Twitter and Facebook, Lacoste and Fiat agreed to end all advertising campaigns with El Guardián.

Here's what they said:

Lacoste to Change.org:

"We thank you for contacting us and confirm your understanding:

- Lacoste disassociates itself from the El Guardian journalist’s statements and more generally from any statement offensive to women and men. As we have already indicated, these statements go against our values.

- We further confirm that we do not have any future advertising plan with this magazine."

Fiat to Change.org:

"FIAT is paying heed to all the opinions of the people who have written to us using the means available on the web and expressing their disapproval of the article published in the newspaper El Guardian by Juan Terranova (who has published an apology note on his personal blog http://elconejodelasuerte.blogspot.com/2011/03/por-este-medio-pido-perdon-todas-las.html). First of all, we would like to make it clear that Fiat and all of its employees in any parts of the world condemn any form of violence - be it against women, children, ethnic or religious minorities, including any attitude inciting violence, as also set out in the "Pacto Global Compact", of which Fiat is one of the signatories in Argentina. We are carefully evaluating the situation and we will keep you informed through our usual communication and conversation channels. In any case Fiat advertising campaign on El Guardian already terminated on April 7."

Now it's time to thank Lacoste and Fiat for stepping up and doing the right thing! Use these links to write on each of Lacoste and Fiat's Facebook walls, telling them that they have restored our faith in their companies as customers.

By pulling their advertisements from the magazine, Lacoste and Fiat have also shown El Guardián that people and companies around the world are taking Juan Terranova's words seriously, and we won't back down!

Now is also the time to push an all out campaign to demand that El Guardián fire Juan Terranova!

Stay tuned for news on what's next, and thanks again to everyone for taking action.

Photo: Fiat

Winning this and similar campaigns depends on our ability to quickly call on thousands of supportive folks like you. After signing the petition below, please click here to follow us on Facebook - just click ‘Like’ at the top of the page.