JC Penney Stands Up to Bigotry and Hatred of the Million Mom group – Refuses to Stop Using Ellen Degeneres as Spokesperson

An American Corporation Everyone Can Point to as a Role Model

Thanks to Think Progress we are all now aware of some group called One Million Moms that was set up by the American Family Association to promote what can only be called as Un-American Family Values.  One of the group’s strongest Un-American Values is a hatred and prejudice against people who are gay and lesbian.  The target of their most recent rant is the JC Penney Company, which has had the gall to use openly gay Ellen Degeneres as a spokesperson in the company’s media advertising.  Here is their headline story.

JC Penney Offends Traditional Families Again

        Recently JC Penney announced that comedian Ellen Degeneres will be the company's new spokesperson. Funny that JC 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 JC Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war then their brand transformation will be unsuccessful.

Now the statement that most people who shop at JC Penney are traditional families is probably true, simply because most families are.  But for some reason the group assigns their own bigotry to everyone else, in their minds a “traditional” family is openly hostile to the rights of a “non-traditional” family to exist.  It is a logic that states that anyone who belongs to one group must hate and despise people of any other group.  And while that may apply to the people who join an organization like Million Moms, the good news is that the rest of us don't feel or act that way.  In case the Million Moms are wondering, it's called "tolerance" and it's a wonderful thing.

JC Penney’s decision to disregard the private personal life of Ms. Degeneres and to use her in their advertising based on her appeal to customers does not offend “traditional” families.  It glorifies the right in America to have the freedom to live one’s life as one chooses, and not according to the dictates of some holier-than-thou self appointed moralists who believe that they, and they alone know what is right from wrong and have the right to impose their views on everyone else.

Here is what JC Penney had to say.

"Importantly, we share the same fundamental values as Ellen," said Michael Francis, president of J.C. Penney Company in a press statement. "At JC Penney, we couldn't think of a better partner to help us put the fun back into the retail experience. Moving forward, we'll be focused on being in sync with the rhythm of our customers' lives and operating in a 'Fair and Square' manner that is rooted in integrity, simplicity and respect. We're thrilled that she's joining our team to help convey the exciting transformation under way."

"They have an incredible vision for the future and are completely re-inventing themselves to become America's favorite store," said DeGeneres in a press statement.

Kinda makes you want want to shop there, doesn’t it.  And because the Million Moms have been nice enough to provide us with information on what to do here, this Forum will repeat their recommended actions, with just one small change.

TAKE ACTION

Make a personal phone call to JC Penney's customer service department.Their numbers are 972-431-8200 (customer service) and 972-431-1000 (corporate headquarters).

Ask JC Penney to replace continue Ellen Degeneres as their new spokesperson immediately and remain neutral in the culture war.

Thanks million mom group, for saving us the trouble of having to look up that info.  Oh, in case you were wondering, yes JC Penney stock is up about 30% in the last 3 months.  Sorry about that Million Moms group.

As for Ms. Degeneres she explains her views

On the show, DeGeneres read some of the supportive comments her fans left on the the group’s Facebook page and then explained her values:

I usually don’t talk about stuff like this on my show. But I really want to thank everyone who is supporting me. And if you don’t know me very well, if you’re just watching maybe for the the first time or you’re just getting to know me I want to be clear. And here are the values that I stand for. I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated and helping those in need. To me those are traditional values, that’s what I stand for.

Yeah, you can see why a family values group like the Million Moms wouldn't want her out there spouting that stuff.