The boycott of Plano-based J.C. Penney is back on by hate group One Million Moms after a lesbian couple was featured in the store’s May catalog. The ad features Wendi with her mom, partner and daughters with the words “freedom of expression” over the picture.
“You’ll often find Wendi, her partner, Maggie, and daughters elbow-deep in paint, clay or mosaics,” the ad reads. Further on it explains that Wendi’s mother is an artist with a gallery in Granbury, Texas, and reiterates that the picture is of “Wendi with her mom Carolyn, daughters Raven and Clover, and partner Maggie.”
OMM ended the J.C. Penney boycott in March after the company came out in defense of selecting lesbian comedian Ellen DeGeneres as its spokeswoman. While “so many issues” OMM is working on took precedence before, the group states on its website that it has “no choice but to move on earlier in the year but have decided to revisit this issue and speak out again.”
Apparently store managers who received complaints from OMM supporters or those who disagreed with DeGeneres representing the company were “brushed off,” according to OMM.
“Last time OMM contacted JC Penney store managers, we were brushed off,” OMM states on its website. “Some even experienced in person the store manager saying ‘Thank you’ and walking off while their customer and our concerned members were in mid-sentence. OMM has been told that JCP corporate office told store managers to say ‘Thank you’ and then walk away. If they want our business, then we will not be ignored!”
OMM is again asking store managers be approached so they will take the complaints to corporate. The group also wants emails sent to jcpcorpcomm@jcpenney.com, stating that J.C. Penney blocks OMM’s prewritten letters from its server.
Maybe because the company has addressed concerns and no longer wants its employees bothered. Just a thought.
After the jump, read the full concerns of OMM regarding the ad.
Don’t Count Your JCP Chickens Before They Hatch
JC Penney has laid low in the month of April by airing two different commercials that portrayed them as remaining neutral in the cultural war. Even though JCP seemed to have changed their approach, their May catalog shows they are making a strong effort otherwise. On pages ten and eleven, under the title “Freedom of Expression,” you’ll find “Wendi and her partner Maggie and daughters” and again “Wendi, daughters Raven and Clover, and partner Maggie” in text. In the picture both women are wearing wedding bands.
Families who once supported JCP and hold open store credit cards or are on their mailing list received the May catalog yesterday. Today, customers are able to view the May catalog online on the JC Penney website under May books. (Click on image for larger view)
OMM has so many issues to cover we had no choice but to move on earlier in the year but have decided to revisit this issue and speak out again. It is obvious that JCP would rather take sides than remain neutral. JCP will hear from the other side so they need to hear from us as well.
Last time OMM contacted JC Penney store managers, we were brushed off. Some even experienced in person the store manager saying “Thank you” and walking off while their customer and our concerned members were in mid-sentence. OMM has been told that JCP corporate office told store managers to say “Thank you” and then walk away. If they want our business, then we will not be ignored!
The store managers are the ones who can communicate to corporate for their customers. Managers will not want to be in the middle so when we politely express our concern to them, they should realize that they are the ones taking all the complaints and corporate is not having to answer for the decisions they are making. Managers will pass along customers’ frustrations, and their own, to corporate because they will likely get tired of their game. Managers will also have to answer to corporate for the loss in sales from traditional families, so we will give them the proof they need to back this up when we tell them we will no longer be able to shop with them until they take a neutral stand.
TAKE ACTION
Since the corporate office doesn’t consider your call important, please call, or visit, your local store manager. Local managers are more likely to listen to your concerns and pass them along to the corporate office.
Please be kind when you ask them to tell corporate that they should remain neutral in the cultural war. What was the purpose in stating on page eleven that Wendi and Maggie are partners?
You can find the phone number of your local store here, or in your local phone directory.
Normally, OMM has a prewritten letter ready to send from our email server, but JCP blocks emails from our server. You may send your own email to: jcpcorpcomm@jcpenney.com.
NOTE: If you see a commercial or program which is offensive, email us the information. Many of you have done this, and it is very helpful.
I now consider “One Million Moms” to be an intolerant hate group.
Sounds to me like “one million moms” don’t have enough to do. They should learn tolerance and how to mind their own business! These ladies in the photo are not hurting anyone so why do they care what they do. We all have the right to be happy and to religious freedom. Some people are forgetting that and would like to have another witch hunt.
Who the heck shops at Penneys anyway?
I now consider JC Penney a left-wing retailer pandering to anti-Christians and illegals. The last time I was there, at my local store, Spanish was blaring from the loudspeakers, and there were 10 Mexicans to every white person. The black sales girls were overwhelmed by Spanish only being spoken by their customers, and the entire store was pretty much trashed out and ultra low on stock. Now Penneys is trying to make an abomination in God’s eyes (homosexuality) seem “hip and cool.” Won’t be going again to the store I’ve been going to my entire life. What a shame.
Hate Group = Anybody who thinks differently than I do.
“Remain neutral in the cultural war”? What are they supposed to do, not show gay OR straight couples? Oh wait, OMM thinks showing only straight couples is remaining neutral. That makes lots of sense!
What a bunch of sick, twisted hate-mongers. Oh no, someone different from them is being portrayed as a normal person! How horrible! Your life must suck if that’s what bothers you in this world.
Dear OMM: people in the world are sick and hungry, with no one to help them. The world is in the midst of the worst economic recession in decades. Terrorists are killing innocent people in the name of religion. And finally, our own public education system is failing. Now remind me again, what is it, exactly, that you’re so concerned about?
One Million Morons. Get a real cause.
Two women out of three hugging, and children laughing represents lesbianism now? Are you F***ing Kidding me???? They could easily be just friends or family members. People who see this as “evil”, are simply a evil themselves! They don’t understand the definition of love… they are blinded by hate and bigotry and pass those sad values off as “LOVE”. We have to to see what’s positive about their hate… Their hatred is making their ridiculous beliefs irrelevant and less powerful in a 21st century society! They are actually helping this world change faster than ever before. Keep up the good work bigots!
Wow, Karen! Can you be any more Racist or Hateful? How very Godly of you!!
You fit right in with OMM!
Karen: I am a “Mexican” from San Antonio and you are a racists of the highest form. You fit in well with Monica Cole, whom everyone is laughing at. No one gives one iota what Cole and her bigot followers demand. Sorry to hear of the JCP layoffs. Hope the company turns matters around.
Good work! Bless you OMM!
I’m noticing JC Pennys stock falling toward all time lows. In their desperation to bring in more customers, (the gay community), they’ve done so at the cost of many main stream customers like myself. They are laying off staff in stores as well.
So hang in there and thanks for speaking up. It’s well past time that we stop worrying about being politically correct, and letting our silence in tolerance, be mistaken for acceptance.
Being disgusted with sexual deviation is not the same as being hateful, bigots or racists. Some things are gross, and it’s ok to say so. It’s a behavior that shouldn’t be allowed into mainstream advertising or TV, to further confuse our children.
If this makes me a bigot, I proudly wear the title, but people must make a moral stand, and care about the direction of this country.
Thank you for caring.
To all the OMMs and their supporters:
Just because you support “family” values doesn’t give you the right to unilaterally define what a “family” actually is. Spend more time loving and less time hating.
Just some food for thought.
“Being disgusted with sexual deviation is not the same as being hateful, bigots or racists. Some things are gross, and it’s ok to say so. It’s a behavior that shouldn’t be allowed into mainstream advertising or TV, to further confuse our children.”
You are defining sexual deviation based on… what, exactly? You know homosexual behavior is fairly common in animals, right? It’s been occurring between humans for all of history. Do you think your children are idiots? Sheltering them from REALITY (there are millions of homosexuals. millions. absolutely nothing you can do about it) will only turn them into ignorant people like you.
You know what was called gross only a few decades ago? Interracial marriage (but you probably still think that’s a no-no).
I’m disgusted by
I won’t be shopping there again. I don’t have kids and I disagree with the gay agenda JCPenney is supporting. Therefore, I am now a former customer.
Christians: America’s very own Taliban
This will be one that the xtians claim — that the gay activists caused the demise of JCP. Seriously, their problems started WAY before Ellen started promoting them and WAY before this alleged lesbian fornication showed up on the ad.
If these so called xtians were such great customers (I believe Matt calls them main stream customers), then why was their financial situation already so DESPERATE before the gays ‘invaded’ your Walmart of the mall?
Let them boycott whatever the hell they want to boycott, and say it’s all for their magical sky friend. Boycotts don’t work in this day and age in any real financial sense anyway. They may result in a letter of ‘apology,’ a statement of ‘we don’t care’ or a straight-up FU, but that’s it.
Yes, the gay agenda. We’re all out to convert your children. These fine Christians shouldn’t worry, though. We tend to lurk around places of culture and higher education and avoid trailer parks and KFC buffets at all costs. We’ll never bump into each other.
Thank God for companies like JCPenney! Teaching people about loving everyone! I love the changes they have made and I love Ellen. This makes me want to shop there all the time, I have never been happier with a store’s response to a hate campaign.
Matt, when did you first discover that you are gay?
I am straight. I, personally, would like to believe others are, but this choice, we are entitled to, and it belong’s to each of us, as individuals. I have friends with different beliefs. They are my friends, no matter what. We respect each other. The world is finally trying to become a place of peace and love. Let’s accept others for their choices, as we have the freedom to make our choices. You can follow a different path, but do not impose your values on others…keep it personal…everyone has values. We should all respect each other’s beliefs.
Why call them a “hate group” ? Why not call them a “group that stands for traditional marriage values” instead ? Simpy because they have views that differ from yours they’re tagged as a hate group. I don’t want my granddaughter flipping through the Penney’s catalogue and seeing two women portrayed as a couple who are suppose to represent mainstream America. This isn’t what it’s all about, no matter how much it’s forced down out throats !
I don’t understand the comments about jcp forcing this down anyone’s throat? I don’t feel that way when I see straight couple after straight couple after straight couple shown in every media vehicle out there. I just don’t get it.
@Matt Erickson: JCP stock at an “all time low”!!??
Back in January 2009, when Barack Obama was sworn into office, JCP was trading at $16.75 a share. Today as of now it is trading at $35.15 a share.
That MORE THAN DOUBLE IN VALUE since President Barack Obama took office.
So, besides being anti-gay, I’ll also note that you are anti-math.
Wow, Kevin. You’re really giving a great deal of meaning and merit to a catalog. Or maybe I just missed the memo that told us we had to derive our understanding of the entire world from discount retail advertising.
It’s hardly forced down your throat. You can simply not get one, and if that pesky Satan delivers one to your mailbox, you could just throw it away. Hallelujah!
Were you traumatized by a catalog as a child? Surely there are support groups for this kind of trauma.
No, no no Inis. Don’t you know that the stock market fluctuates according to OMM’s opinion? They boycott something and then POOF, it’s gone! Maybe that’s why Ellen is no longer making millions on TV while simultaneously pointing out how stupid the OMM rage is.
Oh, wait….
It’s like mama say, Inis: math is the debil!
I don’t know about anybody else here, but I’m shopping at J.C. Penney’s this weekend. Fight the intolerance by supporting the tolerant.
WOW, this is a hate group, and i am forever happy that JCP has told it’s managers to say thank you and move on, i am not so sure they need the business of this group anyway. all of us that support diversity and openness should all support a company that is against hate. i am always amazed at people that claim they don’t hate, but they only “like” people that are just like them, in the end they only come across ignorant, and narrow minded.
Thank you JCP!! please don’t bow down to these small mined individuals.
Seriously, those mothers need to get a real job and stop picking on every ridiculous thing they see. Gays are apart of this society as well as every other person. No matter choice, etc! Get over it.
Why is it ok to bash Christians, but it is “hatred” and “bigotry” to say you don’t support gay marriage/lifestyle? I don’t hate anyone but that doesn’t mean I have have to support something that is against my belief system. Seems as though this country is starting to adopt the motto of – everyone is entitled to their opinion, unless it disagrees with mine.
Why do some of my fellow straight people think they are so special? Get over yourselves! Love is better than hate. You have every right not to like it and not to buy it. But I have the right to make up my own mind and I see nothing wrong with the ad. Love is a beautiful thing!
This is a non-issue. Focus on the real issues that affect us all.
Bye bye Penney’s. I have no problem with gays leading their own organizations, running their own schools, endorsing their own candidates, etc.
But since when has Penney’s become a promoter of the gay lifestyle and in a catalogue? Didn’t know about this till I read this article. No more Penney’s. They do not need me or my business.
Why is this such an issue for people? These women are a hard working couple with good jobs and face the same day to day problems of life that we all go through. I think jcp is a wonderful diverse company and more should follow their lead. I was always taught as a Christian to love one another. What has happened to this society that spreads all this hate? It sickens me to think that people aren’t a little more tolerant of people living their lives with truth on who they are.
So, littleleers, I guess they’ll have to do without your $45 purchase every year. I’m sure they’ll be fine. In fact, why don’t you and all the OMMs just go ahead and boycott whatever you want. It won’t matter a damn bit.
And Lynn, when these so called Christians start acting like Christ, then it won’t be hate or bigotry.
Why is OMM considered a “hate” group? It is okay for others to have their opinion – but OMM can’t? I have never met anyone that does not have “hate” or at the very least a “very strong negative opinion in their heart” towards someone, something, or some ideal. But yet YOU are not called a “hate” person. Everything that does not agree with YOUR agenda – you call “racist”, “hate group”, etc… You claim to desire peace and love – but only if it agrees with YOUR opinion and YOUR decisions. You think you are so open-minded- but I have never seen a group of people so closed – minded. The comments on this page are appalling. Whatever happened to everyone is entitled to their own opinion? The hate for anyone standing against Penney’s add is shocking. Whether you are for it or against it – please use that love and peace that you desire – and be mature. State your opinion without putting a sledgehammer to someone else’s opinion.
To those who think that there is nothing to indicate that the ad is speaking about a lesbian couple haven’t read the ad. They just looked at the photo.
Anyway……
Why does the article call OMM a hate group? Because they don’t agree with someone’s opinion? So is the gay lobby a hate group because they don’t agree with OMM? I guess it all depends on what side of the fence you sit on.
Regardless…..
There is no room for hate on either side of this debate. Everyone mind you own effing business and get on with life. There are much bigger things to worry about. Who cares if JCP supports homosexuality? Who cares if OMM doesn’t? Who cares if Wendi, a fictitious person is an advertisement, is homo or hetero. Live and let live, and let’s focus on something that really matters.
I haven’t shopped at Penny’s in years, but my wallet and I will be there soon. The add is not pro anything. It is a representation of one part of the companies constituency, and I think the directed response of the managers is sensible. Imagine what the world would be like if everyone just walked away from people trying to put others down.
I have not shopped at JCP in years. I am trying to come up with a list of things to buy right now. Impressed.
@DBGG: When the group in question is working to keep rights away from minority groups, you’re absolutely right that they’re a hate group. Try to keep up.
@ Buck, you’re totally right. Just because OMM has an opinion homosexuals doesn’t make them a hate group! What is this country coming to? What happened to good ol’ family values? When an upstanding white man could go out with his buddies, dawn some robes and light a cross up in a black mans yard and he wasn’t attacked with this venomous rhetoric? Having an opinion, on gays, on jews, on blacks, doesn’t make a “hate” group!
Or maybe, just maybe, being a “hate” group has to do with “hating” a set of people for something beyond their control. Like race. Or religion. Or sexual orientation.
And for the record, you’re entitled to your opinion, but your’re not free from criticism.
I’m not gay, I’m Christian, and I fully support gay people being able to do whatever they want. I fully support gay marriage. I also accept full responsibility for raising my kids the way I want. Television is full of sex and violence every day, and that seems like a bigger problem than “there are gays in the world” to me.
I shop at JC Penney sometimes. Sometimes I don’t. Honestly this whole advertising campaign wouldn’t have made me want to shopt here any more or any less, but this OMM group makes me want to shop there more. I feel like they’re trying to represent Christian Americans with their bigotry, and I don’t want to be represented by them. So they’ve effectively made me a more loyal JC Penney customer.
Thanks, OMM. 🙂
THE HATE CARD !! Always ready to fly. If anyone disagrees with the homosexual lifestyle they are hateful. So judgmental homosexuals. So nit picky! So this new CEO fool hires ELLEN and for some odd reason JCPENNEY just lost 163 million dollars. I HOPE ELLEN IS WORTH IT ! Sweet Revenge !!! 🙂 ::))
The lesbian couple and their girls are modestly dressed. There’s no sexualization of young girls, just a depiction of happy, loving people. Seems fine to me. I haven’t been in JC Penney in over 30 years, but if I find myself near one, I’ll make sure to buy something there.
Thanks, JC Penney, for being so brave.
They’re trying to appeal to a certain small group of people. Their sales were down because their merchandise is a tad better than Walmart. They figure, hey, we’ll bring in Ellen Degeneres…she’ll draw people in, not thinking that Ellen’s audience mainly consists of people in their early twenties who wouldn’t be caught dead shopping at Penney’s. So now for every one person they attract to their store, three more will choose to shop somewhere else. Great marketing, you bunch of morons! I’m tired of being expected to accept this lifestyle. I’m even more tired of it being shoved down my throat and my children’s throats.
What JC Penny has done is not just about reflecting the so-called diversity of today’s society. The advertisements for May and June SHOWCASED same-sex families. All the other families featured showed only one parent. Only the gay families were shown as a whole. Most people won’t notice unless they really read the catalog. Many won’t care. Bottom-line, I think it’s about the almighty dollar.
JC Penny hopes to drum up some sales by reaching out to the gay community.
Will it really work? Remains to be seen.
I am a straight mother/grandmother and I applaud Penney’s for thier recognition of families, all families and I will continue to take my grandchildren to Penney’s to shop. I want them to know that “different isn’t wrong, its only different”.)