JC Penney quickly shot down the American Family Association’s campaign through its subgroup One Million Moms to have the retailer fire Ellen DeGeneres as their spokesperson because she is openly gay, but that hasn’t stopped the organization’s efforts. Instead of calling JC Penney’s corporate office, now OMM is telling activists to call local managers. OMM accused the corporate office of “insulting” them by not bowing to their anti-gay pressure campaign, and now hopes that store managers will be easier targets:
OMM began contacting JC Penney after the store announced that comedian Ellen DeGeneres would become the company's new spokesperson. Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of its customers are traditional families. As consumers, what we find tragic is a corporate office and customer service department that not only transfers customers to voicemail, but even hangs up on them rather than verses hearing their concerns.
It is absurd to think that a company would find treating customers in this fashion an acceptable behavior. Our members stated their concerns in a kind, professional manner. Insulting customers by ignoring us will not be tolerated. OMM members can shop elsewhere if JC Penney does not appreciate our business. Unless JC Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war and listen to customers in a considerate fashion, their brand transformation will be unsuccessful.
Degeneres is not a true representation of the type of families who shop at the retailer. The small percentage of customers they are attempting to satisfy will not offset their loss in sales by offending the majority.
Since JC Penney won't listen to us nationally, it is time we let them hear from us locally!
Since the corporate office doesn't consider your call important, please call 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 Ellen DeGeneres is a poor choice for spokesperson and should be replaced with someone who more represents your family values.
OMM spokeswoman Monica Cole, last seen attacking Glee, told the AFA affiliated OneNewsNow that DeGeneres doesn’t make a good spokesperson because of the small size of the openly gay community:
But Monica Cole, director of American Family Association's advocacy groupOneMillionMoms.com, tells OneNewsNow the campaign might backfire since only an estimated 1.7 percent of the population is homosexual.
"Yes, DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store," says Cole. "And they're going to be gaining a very small percentage of liberal customers. This will not satisfy or offset their loss in sales. They will be losing more than they'll be gaining."
In hiring a lesbian to sell the public on the idea of shopping at J.C. Penney, the company is making the mistake of turning its back on its base of customers, says Cole.
"[We're] asking J.C. Penney to hire a spokesperson who's more representative of the type of the customers that shop in their stores, such as traditional families," she concludes.
OneMillionMoms is asking people to call J.C. Penney to politely ask that DeGeneres be replaced -- and that instead of "jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon," the firm take a neutral stance in the culture war.
