Controversy has recently sprung up in Tupelo, Mississippi; a controversy so big that could possibly cost JC Penney a lot of money. The reason for why all this controversy has arisen is because JC Penney has hired a new spokesperson, but who could they have possibly chosen that would cause such an uproar in Mississippi? None other than Ellen DeGeneres, but really Ellen DeGeneres? The famous lesbian talk show host? Believe it or not, people in Mississippi are still against the LGBTQ community playing a role in their daily lives and they strongly disagree with having Ellen DeGeneres as the spokesperson for JC Penney. The organization known as One Million Moms, (which according to the LA Times is an “uber-conservative American Family Association,”) has stated that they find it “funny” that by hiring “an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families." In other words they believe that having an openly homosexual person promoting JC Penney, is illogical since DeGeneres is lesbian and her lesbianism breaks the family fabric that makes America “perfect,” and these so called “perfect families” are the ones that shop at JC Penney.
Scholar John D’Emilio states in his essay, Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview, that society “marks gay people as inferior-less moral, less respectable, and less healthy than their fellows,” and this is exactly what is occurring in this situation. The group One Million Moms is stating that DeGeneres is “inferior” and “less respectable” and thats the reason why she can’t be the spokesperson for JC Penney. One Million Moms is demeaning DeGeneres and stating that she is “not good enough” and “not the right person” to sponsor JC Penney due to her sexuality. They even threaten that they will boycott JC Penney unless they “quickly change their spokesperson.” It becomes clear at this point that One Million Moms would much rather have a straight person sponsor JC Penney, since they believe that a straight person would be a much more suitable model to represent JC Penney and the traditional family.
Scholar John D’Emilio states in his essay, Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview, that society “marks gay people as inferior-less moral, less respectable, and less healthy than their fellows,” and this is exactly what is occurring in this situation. The group One Million Moms is stating that DeGeneres is “inferior” and “less respectable” and thats the reason why she can’t be the spokesperson for JC Penney. One Million Moms is demeaning DeGeneres and stating that she is “not good enough” and “not the right person” to sponsor JC Penney due to her sexuality. They even threaten that they will boycott JC Penney unless they “quickly change their spokesperson.” It becomes clear at this point that One Million Moms would much rather have a straight person sponsor JC Penney, since they believe that a straight person would be a much more suitable model to represent JC Penney and the traditional family.
Feminist scholar Adrienne Rich, talks about the different ways in which men have dominance over women in her essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence. One of the ways in which men can have dominance over women is by “cramping female creativeness” which includes “the social and economic disruption of a women’s creative aspirations.” By protesting and denying Ellen DeGeneres the opportunity to be the spokesperson for JC Penney, One Million Moms is not allowing her to fulfill her “creative aspirations.” Even though the stifling of her creativity isn’t being done by men, the straight women who are doing the stifling, see themselves better than DeGenres and so that’s why in their eyes, they feel that they can exclude/stifle DeGeneres’ creative aspirations. Herndon Graddick, a representative of the organization known as GLAAD, which is a gay rights organization, stated that One Million Moms is a “hate group” and that they should realize that a “vast majority of Americans support Ellen DeGeneres.” He also states that by "Selecting an out performer who has inspired and entertained millions is not only a smart business practice, but a reflection of how LGBT Americans today are an integral and valued part of the fabric of our culture." In other words by keeping Ellen DeGeneres as the spokesperson for JC Penney people will realize that the LGBTQ community makes up a very important part of American society and that it would wrong not to include them in our daily lives. If Ellen DeGeneres were to stay at the spokesperson of JC Penney, the LGBTQ community will have higher hopes and greater opportunities in becoming fully accepted into society which will result in more LGBTQ representation in the media and other sorts of advertising sources.
Here is the article
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/02/anti-gay-group-slams-jc-penney-for-hiring-ellen-degeneres-.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ShowTracker+%28L.A.+Times+-+Show+Tracker%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
John D'Emilio. "Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview" from Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities in the United States 1940-1970. Chicago, Il: University Of Chicago Press, 1983.
Adrienne Rich. "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" from Professions of Desire: Lesbian and Gay Studies in Literature. ed. George Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmermann. New York: Modern Language Association, 1995.
I think your post is interesting, and sheds light on the fact that there are still homophobic parts of the United States that exist. When I read your post, I was very surprised that there is a “hate group” that is large enough and influential enough to make the news about boycotting and being angry about Ellen DeGeneres being a new JC Penney spokesperson. It is odd to me how One Million Moms thought it was “funny” that JC Penney would have an openly homosexual person representing them. Ellen DeGeneres is a spokesperson for many other products, such as Covergirl and American Express, so many people accept her. This part of your post made me thing about the article entitled, “Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview”. In the article, the author states, “a pervasive hostility… kept homosexuality submerged and constrained gay people from openly acknowledging their presence in society (30). Remember, the author stated this quote in regards to the time at the beginning of World War II. It appears as though One Million Moms is trying to do the same thing as society in the mid 1900s. Have we not as a nation grown since then? Have we not become more accepting? I suppose in some places we haven’t, and amidst many great things happening for gay marriage, your article sheds light on the fact that as a nation, we have a long way to go for acceptance.
ReplyDeleteI certainly agreed with JC Penney’s decision. Choosing Ellen DeGeneres as their new spokesperson was wise and highly advantageous. The LGBTQ community gains more publicity and, in turn, JC Penney gains more supporters. To take it a step further, I believe the protest against DeGeneres from One Million Moms actually benefits the LGBTQ community more than harming them. Before the protest, the release of JC Penney’s new spokesperson was exciting, positive, and a nice change. But it wasn’t until the protest from One Million Moms before things started heating up, gaining more and more publicity. The media, the press, and an accumulated amount of individuals gave rise to JCP’s popularity. Although, One Million Moms confirms the generalized statements of society in the article, “Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview” by John D’Emilio, the reverse can easily be proven true. In present day America, the progression of media is opening endless doorways for anonymous users to safely say what’s on their mind. Your article has brought to my attention that while many traditional Americans feel the need to protest against a member of the LGBTQ community, there are just as many people who are willing to fight for their rights.
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ReplyDeleteThe controversy surrounding Ellen DeGeneres and her recent appointment to spokesperson of JC Penney is not only slightly frustrating, but also laughable. The group of conservative mothers deemed “One Million Moms” does not disappoint when is comes to nationally embarrassing themselves by presenting an argument full of flaws against the widely recognized department store. According to the group’s website the group is “fed up with the filth many segments of our society… are throwing at our children”. Clearly JC Penney has chosen Ellen to represent their company for a reason, and surely have good reasons for doing so especially because she has gained national acceptance from millions of viewers around the world. Though Ellen may not personify the typical JC Penney shopper, I highly doubt the typical JC Penney shopper is the romanticized perfect traditional mother that they envision, who is seriously concerned that she’s buying her cashmere sweater from a store that is too “gay-friendly”. In fact, Ellen will likely cause publicity and bring more attention and promotion to the department store simply because she is such an iconic figure in American society, regardless of her orientation. JC Penney’s decision to hire Ellen and therefore show support for the LGBTQ community is an amazing step in the right direction and is a great example that “attitudes must be challenged is pervasive taken-for-granted homophobia is ever to cease (Smith 114). Besides, as Ellen bluntly stated on her show, why is this group called One Million Moms is there are only 40,000 members? Sounds questionable to
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with JC Penny's decision. Unfortunately, there are always going to be incredibly conservative and traditional citizens that believe in the idea of a "nuclear family" and upholding the roles that have been engrained by societal constructions. However, I do see, from a marketing perspective, how hiring a lesbian spokesperson could potentially turn these more conservative customers away from JC Penny. In John D'Emilio's "Homosexuality and American Society: An Overview", D'Emilio speaks about the criminalization of the gay community as if they were inferior to or less "healthy" than heterosexual people. This JC Penny example really does reflect the research of D'Emilio and how even a seemingly happy organization with a name like "One Million Moms" can hold such strong prejudices towards a group of people based on their sexual orientation. In the end, I think that Ellen's fan base says it all- She is an extremely popular talk show host with millions of viewers nationwide. You definitely cant argue with that..
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