Ford Ranger Raptor aka Very Gay Raptor im Kölner CSD (Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company)
COLOGNE, Germany | As this 2,000-year-old city spanning the Rhine River in western Germany celebrated its annual LGBTQ+ Christopher Street Day this past weekend, the German Division of American car manufacturer Ford debuted its answer to a troll who complained on its social media about one of the car company’s paint schemes.
For the ColognePride event, which ran from from Aug. 26 through to the main parade on Aug. 29, the company, which is a long time ally of the event, presented a 2021 “Very Gay Raptor” model of its best selling F-150 pickup truck.
A spokesperson for Ford said that the idea for the truck was two-fold. The company rather than clap-back at a commenter on the company’s social media with a standardized corporate response decided to turn the tables.
In a statement Ford said; “The “Very Gay Raptor,” a Ford Ranger Raptor in originally Performance Blue, was created in response to a discriminatory comment on social media. One user described the color performance blue as “very gay.” We responded spontaneously with an animation in which a blue Ford Ranger Raptor was painted in gold dust and rainbow colors, making our position on discriminatory language very clear.”
The car company said that it was a 60-hour makeover of the truck, which was wrapped in 30 square meters of rainbow colored and gold glittered Alphafoil.
The secondary reason was to mark the 25th anniversary of sponsoring and allyship with Christopher Street Day/ ColognePride as well as celebrate the Ford employee network GLOBE (Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees) which also celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. The network has been advocating the interests of lesbian, gay and bisexual employees since 1996 and actively helping to implement the Ford “Diversity” corporate philosophy in everyday working life.
Although parade participation was limited this year due to the coronavirus restrictions, Ford was able to field a small group of its employees and an homage to its original contribution to the event from 25 years ago, a conversion of a small Ford KA pick-up in rainbow colors built in 1998.
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