One Million Moms, a Christian organization created by the American Family Association which focuses on the “exploitation of children” by the media, has taken offense to a new holiday ad from JC Penny that features openly gay talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres.
The ad focuses on Ellen and some of Santa’s elves as she makes one faux pas after another regarding their height, and One Million Moms claims the jokes in the commercial are highly offensive.
“Since April, JC Penney’s has not aired Ellen DeGeneres in one of their commercials until now. A new JCP ad features Ellen and three elves. JCP has made their choice to offend a huge majority of their customers again. Christians must now vote with their wallets,” their statement reads.
But many think that the organization simply wants Ellen and JCP to part ways because of her sexuality and are blaming a 30-second ad for their own issues.
“This is very frustrating. One Million Moms needs to re-read their Bible. The group is upset over someone who is gay being in a family commercial…are they going to start looking into the backgrounds of all people who act in commercials. I mean, are they going to get upset over the person who is having premarital sex, participating in adultery, telling lies. Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins, and he doesn’t hold grudges or keep tally marks. Move on!” wrote one YouTube commenter.
“Offended: A word synonymous with being just a whiny person. If they don’t like what they see they act like children having a tantrum in a store for not getting their way,” wrote another.
The One Million Moms website has a section devoted to “Take Action Now”, where followers can look up the latest causes. Among calls to action regarding Skittles commercials and the show “The New Normal” is a post about “Person Of Interest” which claims the show is following a trend of “normalizing homosexuality”. The post about JC Penny seems to have been taken down.