Christians Boycott The Gap for Not Saying "Christmas" in Ads (Even Though Its Ads Do Use the Word)

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The American Family Association, a Christian group, is urging a boycott of The Gap (GPS) and its brands (Old Navy and Banana Republic), because the stores do not use the word “Christmas” in their ads.

It’s difficult to know where to start with this nonsense, but how about the fact that Gap does indeed use the word Christmas in this year’s campaign? It’s right there, on The Gap’s web site. The video that opens the site contains this cheerleader-style chant:

2-4-6-8, ’tis the time to liberate. Go Christmas! Go Hanukkah! Go Kwanzaa! …

World Net Daily, a news site folowed by Christians and conservatives, also found “Christmas” in Gap’s ads:

WND was able to find one mention of “Christmas” in a broadcast ad which is also featured on its website. It appears near the end of a rap song, the lyrics of which state:

…Gifted like Christmas so I love to rap/We gonna give it to the world peace, love, and Gap.

And yet AFA boss Don Wildmon tells WND:

“As hard as we tried,” Wildmon said, “AFA could not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term ‘Christmas.’ Not a single time! When one Old Navy store manager was asked by AFA if the word Christmas was in his store, he answered, ‘We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores, but the word Christmas is not used here. Everything is holiday.’

What is Wildmon trying to achieve? The boycott suggests that it would be better if The Gap exploited Christmas to the hilt, commercializing it as much as possible in a campaign to rack up sales of sweaters and jeans. Which, obviously, was, er … Christ’s true message.

The other nonsensical outcome of this boycott would be the coercion of a non-Christian organization into a false celebration of Christmas. Which, equally obviously, you can find in the New Testament … possibly.

And while non-Christians are kidding themselves if they believe that the Dec. 25 federal holiday was created for Hanukkah or Muharram, Wildmon’s campaign suggests it would somehow better if clothing retailers did their best to annoy non-Christians as much as possible.

The only possible conclusion: Wildmon and the AFA are atheist stooges whose mission is to make Christians look as ridiculous as possible. Genius!

Image: A Christmas display at a Gap in Japan, via Shack Attack.

Hat tip to Brandweek.

Tags: Boycott, Christmas, Gap, Jim Edwards

Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.

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1

xyzzyaarg

11/13/09 | Report as spam

RE: Christians Boycott The Gap for Not Saying

Funny
2

pkrufus

11/16/09 | Report as spam

RE: Christians Boycott The Gap for Not Saying

Jim,

I dare you to be as contemptuous of other religions as you have been of Christianity in this article of yours. I dare you to speak condescendingly about the clerics of other faiths who speak out in defense of their beliefs. This is a business blog, Jim. Stick to it.

I can completely understand if you have personal beliefs for or against a religion. But to lash out against it under the garb of business-speak is lame, Jim. You seem pretty neutral and objective in all your posts. Except here. Why, Jim? Do Christians make you uncomfortable, Jim? How come people from other faiths don't make you react so caustically? Or do you reserve your worst for Christianity only?

BTW, not sure if you've heard this: "According to a new Zogby poll, 95 percent of Americans say they are not offended by being greeted with a "Merry Christmas" while shopping; but greet them with a "Happy Holidays," and 46 percent say they take offense." Why hasn't this statistic featured in your post, Jim? I'm surprised that someone like you who's so clued into he happenings of the business world could be unaware of this. Or did you conveniently leave this out?

If you have a problem with the AFA or its proponents, criticize them by all means. But you have no right to speak condescendingly of Christ or The Bible. Not on a business blog. Because, and be honest, you wouldn't dare speak out against Krishna or Buddha or Mohammad. So take your bilious attitude elsewhere, Jim. Unless BNET, too, agrees that it's open season on Christianity.

Here's my conclusion: You and BNET are on GAP's payroll. What else could it be?
3

BNET's Jim Edwards

11/16/09 | Report as spam

RE: Christians Boycott The Gap for Not Saying

@pkrufus: Obviously I'm not on Gap's payroll. If I'm condescending to Christians on this blog, it's only because Christians seem so intent on having secular advertisers cater to their demands.

The moment the other faiths behave the same way as Christians do on this issue, I'll treat them the same way. It's a promise!
4

pkrufus

11/17/09 | Report as spam

RE: Christians Boycott The Gap for Not Saying

You obviously don?t get it, Jim. Either that, or you refuse to. Let me spell it out for you.

No other religious festival has been commercialised the way Christmas has. If you know your religions and festivals, you?ll know that the Hindus celebrate Diwali and Holi, Muslims celebrate Ramadan and Id, while the Jews celebrate Hannukkah. (Of course, there are many others; I?ve just mentioned a few of the big ones.)

So here?s the thing. Which of these festivals, celebrated the world over, have been commercialised to the extent that Christmas has? More importantly (and here?s where Christians like me have a problem), why is it that secular advertisers always mention the names of these festivals in their communications? How come they never have a problem wishing people ?Happy Diwali? or ?Id Greetings? or ?Happy Hannukkah?? Why is it that secular advertisers balk at mentioning the word ?Christmas? when that is what people are celebrating (and that's the reason behind their advertising)?

I don?t buy the whole politically correct phraseology rubbish. I don?t buy the whole Happy-Holidays-covers-so-much-more-than-Christmas argument because every other aspect of the ommunication is Christmas-based. Whether it?s mistletoe, candy cane, stockings, or even Santa himself, secular advertisers still use Christmas imagery. If their intention is to broaden their appeal to be more inclusive of other religions, how come the imagery is so uni-dimensional? Are you trying to imply that people take offence to the word ?Christmas? but are cool with Christmas imagery?

Like it or not, Christmas is a Christian festival. Secular imagery (Santa, mistletoe etc) notwithstanding, what we celebrate is the birth of Jesus Christ. You may not worship Him as God and Saviour of the world, and that?s fine by us. But what we do take offence to is someone hijacking what we hold dear in the name of political correctness.

First, these secular advertisers make money off a very sacred festival of ours by making it into a completely materialistic venture. Then they tell us that they won?t can?t call it by its name!

Are you blind, Jim?