Conservative group OneMillionMoms.com, an offshoot of the American Family Association, doesn’t like that JCPenney has hired Ellen DeGeneres as their new spokeswoman. Not because of her dance moves or jokes on her talk show, but because she’s gay.
The L.A. Times says the Tupelo, Miss. group posted a statement on their website about the brand’s hiring of DeGeneres, as part of their company’s rejuvenation plan.
“Funny that J.C. Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families,” the group wrote on its website. “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.”
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is already fighting back against the anti-gay sentiments, posting their own statement from senior official Herndon Graddick.
“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. 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.”
JCPenney has been very active in their re-branding lately, redesigning its logo, retooling their annual sales into an everyday bargain situation the hiring of DeGeneres, announced last week on her talk show, is part of that campaign.
Anti-gay group slams J.C. Penney for hiring Ellen DeGeneres [L.A. Times]
More From Consumerist
-
JCPenney Sparks Protest From One Million Moms By Showing Two Gay Dads In Father's Day Catalog
-
Gay Lowe’s Customer Accuses Employees Of Making Slurs, Threats Of Violence
-
Use Facebook’s New Search To Find Married People Who Like Prostitutes & Other Fun Stuff
-
JCPenney Giving Up On The Whole “No More Sales” Thing
-
JCPenney To Require Structural Inspections Of Factories In Bangladesh
As a person who was born and raised (begrudgingly) in Tupelo, MS, I’m pleased to say that the only people who tend to take the AFA and OMM seriously… are actually in Tupelo, MS.
Really, I moved to a town 45 minutes West of there several years ago, and the only time I hear about them now was during the two or three times where they made fools out of themselves and ended up on The Consumerist.
Of course OneMillionMoms.com is probably some church group with 100 members of less. If JCP caves into them I say the rest of us should boycott JCP! Seriously everyone should boycott anything OneMillionMoms.com or American Family values or any of those other croc groups supports.
I hope the One Million Moms.com doesn’t have whole bunch of money. Otherwise they might just go ahead and lobby a new law and ban everyone to be employed as long as they are “Not so traditional family minded”.
Unfortunately those “Moms” have kids. I am so afraid years from now, we will have no freedom due to the next generation are parented by those morons.
I emailed JCP, telling them to ignore the AFA and keep Ellen. I got the following response:
“Our recent announcement, rooted in rich heritage, re-imagines every aspect of our business to become America’s favorite store.
We appreciate your feedback and are equally excited to partner with America’s favorite host and former jcpenney associate, Ellen Degeneres, to help tell our story.”
Good job JC Penny
I didn’t know she used to work at JcPenny! Now that is the American Dream!
That is AWESOME! I had no idea she used to work there either, that’s cool :3
“neutral in the culture war”
Like the Klan.
I fully support her for being openly gay and all things related.
But, fire her for coming out in support of a vegan diet for dogs. The woman is obviously an idiot.
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/01/19/vegetarianism-for-pets.aspx
Everyone makes mistakes. I wouldn’t call her an idiot for this one thing. And her heart is in the right place. She seems like the type of person that would change her mind if the right facts were placed in front of her. I won’t demonize her for something that’s quite honestly, a rather small thing, especially without a whole lot of context from you. Did she mention it in passing? Because I don’t really see her on TV advocating a vegan diet. I’ve never even heard of this before.
Sign the petition, use the phone numbers on the following page to call JCP and SUPPORT the choice of Ellen — http://www.glaad.org/standupforellen
Signed.
Fuckin signed.
Wow… just wow… OneMillionMoms.com. It’s knuckle draggers’ like you that really make me embarrassed to be an American sometimes.
Onemillonmoms is not: one millon, made up of moms. It does not speak for moms, or existing JCP cutomers.
Nor do they speak for “traditional families” either.
I’m all for Ellen, just get rid of the new “jcp”.
Every time I read an article about the AFA, I get angry, which ruins my mood for the rest of the day. >:O =(
Suzie Orman has to be fuming right about now. Not a single Mom Nazi has posted a protest about her prepaid debit card.
Hey OMM: STFU !
I’m in a ‘traditional family’ and I hate Ellen, but not because she’s gay…
Why do most whackjob groups come from America? How come other countries don’t have groups of idiots like this?
Aw damnit, I just got 4 shirts from there. Now I gotta go back. NEW CLOTHES FOR THE BEAR! YAY!
Good grief, why don’t they just be quiet and stop buying from JC Penney if they don’t like it that much. In fact why don’t they try stopping doing business with any company that has a gay employee and see where that gets them. They’ll probably have to suck it up and do business if they want to continue their materialistic consumeristic ways.
That new JC Penney logo reminds me of the failed new GAP logo.
OMM is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. If you ever want a good laugh, add them on Facebook. They get their panties in a bunch over EVERYTHING. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!
I am so sick of fucking cretins using children and “the family” as excuses to promote their bronze-age hatred. Just because a family is traditional(as in mom, dad, & kid/s) doesn’t mean they’re BIGOTS.
These reprehensible bitches need to die in a fire. OMG this makes me so mad （╯°□°）╯ ︵ ┻━┻
Fuck OneMillionMoms!
I’m not sure I want to…
I love Ellen and think she’s hilarious but I don’t shop at J.C. Penney. I can’t afford their clothes. Also, it’s hard to find tall sizes.
Don’t these conservative moms have families to attend to? Surely they wouldn’t use the evil homosexual liberal idea of having the husband care for the family.
In a perfect world this would be matched by a demand from a Gay & Lesbian group that JCP drop Ms. DeGeneres because she is a talentless embarrassment to the Gay community.
Missed opportunities…
There’s nothing family-friendly about hate. Quite simply.
OneMillionMoms. Yeah, no. Probably a couple of hundred at best.
Oh, go away. Don’t care where you go, as long as you go away.
They need to fire the idiots who made their most recent t.v. commercial campaign, it’s just ladies SCREAMING!!!!! for the entire commercial.
That’s what they need to do.
yeah.
Screw these assholes and their agenda. Maybe the next time they get their cars fixed it’ll be by a gay mechanic.
Wouldn’t being “neutral in the culture war” mean that they employers should hire a person *regardless* of their sexual orientation, that being OneMillionMoms’ bone of contention?
Decided to go to their site and read their posting (http://onemillionmoms.com/IssueDetail.asp?id=438). Amusingly, it has a serious English error: “but even hangs up on them rather than verses hearing their concerns”
Now instead of thinking that education and raising awareness of LBGT issues needs to wait as basic education needs to be focused on first! Attention to detail is an important life skill, especially when presenting material for public consumption. Now THERE’S a value they should be teaching their kids
Also hugely amusing from their site’s article: “Degeneres is not a true representation of the type of families who shop at the retailer.”
Since when is a celebrity a typical representation of ANY consumer? AFAIK typical consumers don’t have yearly incomes above six figures and are asked for autographs where ever they go.
Well, I’m sure they also believe that Sarah Jessica Parker (who stars in Garnier Nutrisse ads) dyes her hair at home with a $7 box of hair dye, rather than go to a $400 an hour colorist.
My mom died on Tuesday of this week, she was 85. Onemillionmoms.com is an absolute disgrace and offensive in the memory of my mother who raised me, a happy gay man.
Sorry for your loss, Broos. Thankfully, it appears things are starting to change, and drastically. This is just the bigots realizing that they are losing, so they are fighting anything and everything they can. They know they are losing. And it is glorious.
Ellen has had a successful TV show for years now, so this attempt to paint her as some sort of deranged, “bad-for-families” entity is completely misguided. How many of those “traditional” families have a gay son, brother, nephew, sister, cousin, etc? 1MM sounds like a fanatical group promoting propaganda.
Sounds like they need to watch more Modern Family to rally understand what traditional families are like these days.
If JCP were to fire Ellen, while i’m more apathetic towards her, I myself will definitely not be shopping there.
“most of their customers are traditional families”
I don’t know if you got the memo lady, but JCP ain’t doin so well, hence the overhaul and repositioning of their branding to attract MORE/OTHER customers. In this day and age, JCP would be stupid to listen to a bunch of bored housewives that are out of touch with reality, who, it seems, haven’t exactly been good for JCP’s bottom line.
JC Penny is going to keep Ellen. They don’t care what OMM says. Go JCP!
http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/j-c-penney-wont-fire-ellen-anti-gay-000900801.html
I’m trying to wrap my head around how someone can hate a lady who left being a judge on American Idol because she couldn’t bring herself to criticize people.
I mean, leaving American Idol is commendable by itself.
Hory chit…
Okay, I’m more conservative than not, but can these pansies just STFU already? It makes us all look stupid.
Thanks JCPenney or JCP or jcpenney. Hope you resolve the corporate identity problem very quickly. As a public relations professional, I assure you this name confusion will be a problem if it and the logo are not agreed upon and adhered to, top to bottom within the organization, very quickly.
As a customer, I plan to enter one of your brick-and-mortar stores for the first time in a decade. You have a promising and viable new marketing plan with new pricing plan and especially Ellen as spokeswoman.
Someone should enlighten the intelligent (?) folks at OneMillionMoms.com! Not all “traditional family” people are “anti-gay”. In fact, I suspect most “traditional families” ( I assume that means a dad, a mom and children all living together.) have no such issues. Knowing the American Family Association is peeved at JCP, assures I will shop at JCP. To be honest I have not often shopped at JCP but I will now. Go Ellen!
Mississippi could use some CODA meetings for these folks who derive their own state of well-being based on the perceived behaviors of others. These gals surely have the right to an opinion, however repugnant, but their plan clearly backfires, as Jcpenney just won more business than it lost. It’s not a culture war, it’s a war to stay in business. This business decision was vital. Dear onemillionmoms: you’re not the only people who are alive. Find a real cause.
Too funny that bigots like this still think they are the majority.