I am royally pissed off.
Many of you have probably heard of the group One Million Moms. They are basically a group of supposedly Christian women (and apparently some men) that feel it is their duty to police the media to make sure everyone follows their beliefs and values.
And I am sure you have all heard of Ellen DeGeneres and JC Penney. In case you’ve been living under a rock, let me break down what’s been happening lately:
Ellen DeGeneres is openly gay. (DUH, we all knew this.)
Ellen DeGeneres has recently partnered with JC Penney to be their corporate spokesperson.
Monica Cole, director of One Million Moms has decided to attack JC Penney for choosing Ellen DeGeneres to be their spokesperson.
A few days ago, Ellen gave commentary on her show about the One Million Moms plan to try and get Ellen removed from JC Penney’s marketing campaign. In her commentary, she refuted the claims that she doesn’t match the traditional values of the One Million Moms organization by saying “I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you’d want to be treated, and helping those in need. Those are my traditional values.”
And really, shouldn’t those be the same values we ALL HAVE?
So what’s One Million Moms reasons for the attack on JC Penney and Ellen DeGeneres? Well, Monica Cole was recently appeared on this talk show with Bryan Fischer of American Family Association discussing her organization’s reasons:
Let’s break down a few of her points, shall we?
“We (One Million Moms) feel that Ellen DeGeneres is not a true representation of JC Penney.” Um, OK, since when did One Million Moms become marketing experts? Do they think they know about JC Penney’s target audience and who would best represent them more than, say, JC FREAKIN’ PENNEY?
“JC Penney has made the CHOICE to select a spokesperson that models deviant and abnormal behavior.” So Ellen’s motto is being “kind to one another” is deviant and abnormal? Her love and devotion to her spouse, friends and family is deviant and abnormal? I think not.
“We asked JC Penney to remain neutral and choose a spokesperson that would help them remain more neutral in the culture war.” Is there a culture war? If there is, I wonder if One Million Moms is part of the reason a “war” even exists?
“There are TONS of heterosexual people that could have served as their spokesperson instead of Ellen DeGeneres.” Well, of course there are. But if sexual orientation doesn’t matter when hiring someone for a job, why should Ellen have been DISCRIMINATED AGAINST when being hired by JC Penney for this job? I think her values and beliefs matter more than whom she climbs into bed with each night.
“When Moms are spending their hard-earned money, they like to know which stores to support or not to support.” Earth to Monica Cole, I’M A MOM, TOO. I raise my children to love those around them, and treat others how they would like to be treated. I believe in compassion and being considerate of everyone, regardless of their race, sex, background, or sexual orientation. Guess where I will be spending MY DOLLARS? Do you think Monica Cole and her traditional value moms band of merry haters also boycott K-Mart and Macy’s for carrying Martha Stewart merchandise? Martha’s a felon– isn’t that against their beliefs as well?
“We are not boycotting JC Penney. We are just informing Moms that every dollar spent at JC Penney is money that will be used to pay their spokesperson and to promote a lifestyle we want to warn our children about.” OK, does One Million Moms know the definition of BOYCOTT? Because, yeah… I think thats exactly what they are doing.
Just so we’re clear: Ellen is NOT having sex in JC Penney commercials, and she will not be smooching her spouse in the advertisements. Her job as spokesperson is completely and totally separate from her sexual orientation. It would be same if you, or me, or YOUR MOM was the spokesperson. Does anyone care what MY sexual orientation is? Why should you?
“JC Penney is the one calling for the boycott by those that are pro-family.” oh really? Because ONE member of One Million Moms called
ONE employee at ONE JC Penney store to voice their opinion about never shopping there again, this one employee’s response was “That’s OK, we don’t need your money. You can take your business elsewhere.” That’s JC Penney as a CORPORATION asking for a boycott? Get real. I assume this also means that if ONE member of the One Million Moms organization uses birth control (oh holy hell, what a sin) then it is safe to assume that the entire organization is an advocate of birth control, right?
Did you know that One Million Moms is not only attacking JC Penney and Ellen, but also has attacked Macy’s? Macy’s ran a catalog with an ad showing a wedding cake. If you were to look closely at the cake topper, you would see it has two grooms instead of the traditional bride and groom. Oh, the horror.
One Million Moms also contacted the corporate sponsors of the television show “Modern Family” because the adopted daughter of the two gay men on the show dropped the F-Bomb numerous times (which was bleeped out each time). The storyline was taking a comedic look at what ALL OF US have gone through as parents, when your toddler repeats EVERYTHING that gets said, and yes– even cuss words they hear. (Remind me to write a blog post about the time my then THREE YEAR OLD flipped off two old ladies at the mall. Oh yes, that happened.)
One Million Moms have also attacked the teen television show “DeGrassi” on the Teen Nick channel for airing ads about the Trevor Project, which helps struggling gay/lesbian youth. Their main purpose is crisis intervention and suicide prevention. One Million Moms should be supportive of this, since I am sure they also consider suicide to be a sin.
One Million Moms has even attacked Target for being one of the main sponsors of the DeGrassi television show. SO– while the rest of us are out there telling kids “It Gets Better“, One Million Moms and The American Family Association is responding with a big, fat “Um, NO IT WON’T.”
On a final note, I think Ron Johnson, CEO of JC Penney, said it best:
“We stand squarely behind Ellen as our spokesperson and that’s a great thing, because she shares the same values that we do in our company,” Johnson said on CBS This Morning. “Our company was founded 110 years ago on The Golden Rule, which is about treating people fair and square, just like you would like to be treated yourself. And we think Ellen represents the values of our company and the values that we share.”
Spend your dollars wisely, people. JC Penney, here I come!
