18 December 2012
ACTIVISM: The recent Ellen DeGeneres J.C. Penney Christmas ad once again fired up conservative group One Million Moms (OMM), who decided to boycott the company without logical grounds.
By Isabel De La Garza
Ellen DeGeneres’ appearance in a J.C. Penney ad in February initially sparked One Million Moms’ protest of the company earlier this year. Now, OMM has once again contacted J.C. Penney and stated it will no longer contact the company as it will “not listen” to OMM’s concerns. The 30-second ad, which features DeGeneres convincing some elves to support J.C. Penney’s gift giveaway contest, contains no inappropriate comments for family viewing, nor does it endorse homosexuality. OMM, however, believes that J.C. Penney’s hiring of DeGeneres in the first place was not representative of the families that shop at J.C. Penney, and that its use of a gay spokesperson will cause “the majority of JC Penney shoppers” to “be offended and choose to no longer shop there.”
One Million Moms, currently composed of far less than that number (OMM has an estimated 50,000 users), has attacked several ads and projects of different companies, including Oreo cookies, J.C. Penney, Urban Outfitters, Life with Archie comics, Astonishing X-Men, Person of Interest and The New Normal, for messages that push a homosexual “agenda,” and thus clash with traditional family values and “indoctrinate” children with a pro-homosexual bias or even homosexuality itself.
Some fervor over long-running comic series, such as the Astonishing X-Men and Archie comics, depicting gay marriage is understandable as the issue of gay marriage is still heavily controversial. Attacking a company for featuring a gay spokesperson, or even a gay character or actor, however, is far too much of an overreaction. How does having Ellen DeGeneres ask a favor of some elves on behalf of J.C. Penney constitute pushing a “homosexual agenda”? According to One Million Moms, the answer is that homosexuality has caused a “cultural war,” and it believes that any media company that hires a homosexual as an actor, talk-show host or has shows with even one homosexual character is taking a stand and not staying neutral. And of course, if one is on the side of homosexuality, he or she is obviously in favor of indoctrinating children and completely against family values.
Ironically, the conservative group, which prides itself on Christian family values, is in no way staying neutral−and not staying completely true to Christian values either. If they were, they would actually follow Jesus Christ’s commands to love one another as he loved them, rather than actively attack other human beings for having differing beliefs or loving someone of the same gender. Especially since God, according to Christian doctrine (the Bible and traditional church teaching called catechesis), is willing to forgive all “sins” as long as he is asked to do so. Yes, that includes homosexuality too, if one, like OMM, believes that homosexuality is a “sin.”
Despite the uproar, the boycott really does not seem to bother J.C. Penney at all as it has opted to ignore the group even after OMM’s countless emails and letters. J.C. Penney will not suffer much on the large scale without the patronage of One Million Moms. Ford, 7-Eleven, Carl’s Jr., Burger King, K-Mart, Target, Old Navy, Hallmark, Pamper’s, Clorox, Mary Kay, Ikea, Sears, Kraft and Tide have already proven that being One Million Moms-less is not a hindrance, but rather a timesaver as its boycotts and contact breaks allow more time for marketing and sales rather than placating and letter-writing.