Management Blames Pricing, Denies Impact of Boycott
The Associated Press has reported that J. C. Penney has experienced an unexpected slide in sales and a drop in stock prices. Management is attributing the losses in business to a new pricing strategy that is unpopular with customers. The report printed in the local daily newspaper failed to mention the ongoing “One Million Mom” boycott of the retail chain.
J. C. Penney’s problems with customers began early this year when the retail chain hired openly lesbian Ellen DeGeneres as spokesperson and began portraying same-sex couples in their advertisements.
A conservative group called One Million Moms, a division of the American Family Association called for a boycott of J. C. Penney after the retailer depicted a lesbian couple in its ads for Mother’s Day, claiming the department store is “taking sides” in an ongoing “cultural war.” The J. C. Penney Father’s Day ad promoted same-sex marriage.
“Last time OMM contacted J. C. Penney store managers, we were brushed off,” an OMM spokesman said. “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 that.”
“They wanted to get me fired, and I’m proud and happy to say that J. C. Penney stuck by their decision to make me their spokesperson,” DeGeneres said.
The Huffpost Gay Voices reported that J. C. Penney CEO, former Apple executive Ron Johnson, explained that the company chose DeGeneres as part of a multifaceted company makeover. “I think Ellen is someone we all trust. She is loveable, likable, honest and funny, but at her soul we trust her.” He said DeGeneres “represents the values of our company.”
OMM urged people to cancel their J. C. Penney memberships, telling people to write, “Refused...Return to sender” when their store catalogs arrive.
“It is obvious that JCP would rather take sides than remain neutral in the culture war,” OMM notes in a statement. “JCP will hear from the other side so they need to hear from us as well. Our persistence will pay off!
“We must remain diligent and stand up for Biblical values and truth. Scripture says multiple times that homosexuality is wrong, and God will not tolerate this sinful nature.”