Ellen DeGeneres ads: Anti-gay group’s J.C. Penney boycott fizzles
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It’s Ellen DeGeneres 1, OneMillionMoms.com 0.
The Christian family group called OneMillionMoms.com announced Thursday that it’s backing off a nationwide boycott of J.C. Penney. The group -- affiliated with the ultraconservative American Family Assn. -- was upset that the retailer recently hired the openly gay talk show host as its new spokeswoman. OneMillionMoms.com argued that DeGeneres, as a gay woman, was a poor representative of family values.
The campaign belly-flopped after numerous critics attacked the effort -- not just the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation advocacy group, but also some commentators often sympathetic to conservative causes, such as Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, who compared it to McCarthy-like blacklisting. J.C. Penney also issued a statement reaffirming its support for DeGeneres.
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OneMillionMoms director Monica Cole told the site onenewsnow.com that ‘other issues require her group’s attention, so OMM is moving on.’
What other issues? Well, the group’s latest effort is against the ABC drama ‘GCB,’ which organizers find insulting to Christians.
Meanwhile, some have noticed that the group’s title might be a bit optimistic.
‘Not that there’s anyone counting, but for a group that calls itself the One Million Moms, they only have 40,000 members on their [Facebook] page,’ DeGeneres told viewers. ‘They’re rounding to the nearest million, and I get that.’
What do you think? Why did the OneMillionMoms campaign fail?
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-- Scott Collins
