Ellen DeGeneres is working with JC Penney (rebranded as JCP) as they try to rejuvenate their company (the ads with all the screaming didn’t exactly help with that, somebody page Don Draper.)
But thanks to the anti-gay conservative Christian activist group One Million Moms (which only has about 40,000 likes on Facebook, btw) JCP’s getting some extra free press. OMM calls for a boycott of JCP’s products unless they drop Ellen, just because she’s openly gay. Forget that an average of over 3 million people watch her daytime talk show every weekday, and that most of these people are moms, some of them even conservative Christians who don’t necessarily support gay rights but still appreciate Ellen’s nice brand of humor, fun and family friendly silliness.
OMM wrote this on their website: “Funny that J.C. Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families. More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly. Unless J.C. Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war, then their brand transformation will be unsuccessful.”
A spokesperson for the gay rights organization GLAAD fired back While designated hate groups try to start ‘culture wars,’ it’s clear that a vast majority of Americans today support Ellen as well as their LGBT friends and family members,” Herndon Graddick, a senior GLAAD official, said in a statement, using the acronym for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender persons. “Selecting an out performer who has inspired and entertained millions is not only a smart business practice, but a reflection of how LGBT Americans today are an integral and valued part of the fabric of our culture.”
The Huffington Post even noticed a OMM supporter writing on their Facebook Page that a boycott of JC Penney over Ellen being gay was “silly.” The commenter said: “I certainly don’t agree with Ellen’s lifestyle. However, I won’t stop shopping at [JC Penney] just because she’s the spokesperson. That’s so silly.”
Guess the OMM don’t buy Covergirl products either. (Fast fact, CoverGirl experienced a tremendous increase in sales after they hired Ellen for a campaign in 2008.)
For some reason a Bob Dylan song comes to mind:
