[Editor's Note: This story has been updated here.]
I’m sure everyone’s seen the mass advertising campaign for the re-launch of J.C. Penney. And if you’re a fan of Ellen DeGeneres then you know that the popular daytime host is the new spokesperson for the shopping outlet. That didn’t sit well with a conservative online group called One Million Moms. They insisted J.C. Penney fire Ellen because she’s openly gay. Well, J.C. Penney has told those one million moms that they don’t compete with the 3 million daily viewers who tune in to watch Ellen.
From Yahoo Parenting’s Piper Weiss:
The One Million Moms organization, an extension of the American Family Association, called on members to urge the company to rethink their decision. “Funny that J.C. Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families,” reads the call to action on the group’s website. “The majority of J.C. Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there.”
Not likely. As one of the most popular talk show hosts on TV, with over 3 million viewers turning in each episode, Ellen has her own army of followers that transcend traditional demographics. Gay, straight, moms, dads, kids, and even television critics (she’s won over 32 Emmys), Ellen has surprised the industry’s once closeted Hollywood culture by proving that talent and likability can override bigotry.
The barrier-breaking DeGeneres brand, and its patchwork fan-base, has proved a powerful marketing tool for advertisers too. Can anyone else Hollywood represent both CoverGirl and American Express?
[...]
In the fall, the One Million Moms organization campaigned against Macy’s for including a wedding cake topper with two men in its catalog. Last year, its parent organization, the American Family Association, launched an attack on Home Depot for participating in gay pride events. Sometimes the applied pressure may be influential—the Florida Family Association takes credit for Lowe’s department store pulling ads from TLC’s ‘All-American Muslims‘ series.
But as it stands, this campaign against Ellen won’t impact J.C. Penney’s decision. In an emailed statement to Yahoo Shine, J.C. Penney confirmed it “stands behind its partnership with Ellen DeGeneres.”
About Stew Steve
One million cunts is more like it.
You mean one million dry, dusty, unused, cunts.
Hurray for JC Penney!! They just scored a customer for life! “The majority of J.C. Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there.”??? These groups need to get it through their heads that the majority of people in this country are not homophobic, or at least not to the extent that they think they are.
I am more likely to shop at JC Penney. I am tired of people like Hobby Lobby and others thinking you have to be straight and Christian…
I feel the need to go on a shopping spree!! Kudos to JCP for not giving in to fear and bigotry! Signed, a registered voter, shopper, Christian, and supporter of equal rights for ALL!
I’m a life-long JCP customer, a straight grandmother, and I applaud JCP’s decision to hire Ellen and to hold firm to their decision despite the efforts of a group of bigots. It’s time decent people fought off these pseudo-Christians whose hearts are full of bigotry, self-rightiousness and intolerance. They have been rudely pushing their minority views on a majority of Americans for far too long. I find them extremely offensive and obnoxious.
I definitely boycott businesses for political and environmental reasons. I no longer shop at Lowe’s, for example. I’m very happy to continue shopping at JCP. I am proud of them.
Good for you Litebug! You can be my nanna any day!
Way to go JCP!!! Who do these “one million moms” think they are? I would like to ask them if they have helped as many people, animals, etc. as Ellen has. I find it amazing that these people are only able to see the sexual orientation of a person rather than the good they have done in their lives. I’m sure these moms consider themselves true christians, they are only fooling themselves. They can’t pick and choose which of God’s commandments they adhere to. From one christian to the one million moms, BITE MY ASS!!!!
Ellen has done more for people and animals than all of those million moms combined. She’s a loving, caring, and delightful person, and in my mind she’s far more Christian than any of them. She also has a very beautiful wife. So, thank you JC Penny for not caving to these bigots, for whatever your reasons. In the end you may lose those million moms as customers, but you’ll likely gain far more than that.
Hoorah for J. C. Penny! I am glad there are people in the J. C. Penny corp who are not afraid of the right wingers!!! I will continue to shop there.
I rarely shop at JCP, but after reading this, I’ll make sure to go there at least once a month.
JCP will fail. Its once loyal customer base is now gone. This new CEO will be stocking Target quality merchandise and attracting gutter-quality customers. Even the lower animals in the animal kingdom have an innate sense to procreate. Gays suffer from a perverse form of sexual addiction. They are not fit to parent children. Watch the JCP stock fall in the future and watch our liberal president bail them out.
Wow Jo Nell – It’s great to see that you had time to take off your hood to write all that. It takes real bigoted talent to wrap homophobia, ignorance, sexual perversion, fall of the stock market, and the liberal (Muslim is what I’m sure you meant to say) president all in one neat hateful paragraph. You are talented.
Jo Nell Day suffers from a perverse form of ignorance that would make lower animals in the animal kingdom look like geniuses and is not fit to parent children. I applaud JCP and will shop there more often than I have been!!
Jo Nell – I will put my 16 and 15 year old sons up against any kid you would raise any day. They are B honor roll students, community role models in our small little town, spiritual, outgoing… both participating in sports in school as well as drama, gay-straight alliance, LAX – and have been invited to sing with our county choral festival. They are well loved and well respected individuals. The only thing they hate? The bigotry that people like you spew. Now, while they would talk to you about why you feel the way you do, I would slap the crap out of you for you saying it. They are better people – raised by two gay men – then you or I put together.
WAY TO GO JC PENNY!!! GOOD FOR YOU!!! I’ve been a customer of JC Penny for a long, long time. I have no intentions to stop shopping at JC Penny. I just love Helen DeGeneres – I love to watch her show, and if I’m not home to watch it, then I will tape it. I am happy that JC Penny has chsoen Helen as their spokesperson. I’m just going to keep on shopping at JC Penny.
Good for J C Penney. I will be shopping there more frequently.I live in a small town but there is a J C Penney Store here