Shopping centers are working hard to avoid mention of the C-word.
“Merry Christmas!” the shivering Salvation Army bell-ringer said cheerily as I stuffed a couple bucks in his red kettle just outside Glenbrook Square.
“Don’t you mean, ‘Happy Holidays’?” I answered, doing my best imitation of an ACLU lawyer.
“I don’t go for that politically correct stuff,” he replied.
He’s not alone. Christ was exorcized from America’s civic Christmas celebration a long time ago. Today, the battle is simply to keep Christmas in Christmas – and, at long last, the good guys seem to be on the offensive.
Fueled by conservative groups, cable TV and the Internet, this campaign to conserve Christmas is gaining notoriety and momentum. Just in time, too: Sherlock Holmes would be hard-pressed to detect even a hint of the C-word at Glenbrook and, I suspect, most other shopping centers.
I spent an afternoon at Glenbrook last week – the things I’ll
do for a story — and saw plenty
of wreaths, lights, trees, snowflakes, garland and an assortment of red-and-green signs. I saw
Santa Claus, snowmen and
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Victoria’s Secret was selling
skimpy Santa-style lingerie. Kay Jewelers was selling “Santa certificates.” Rogers & Hollands was having its “jeweltide celebration,” and L.S. Ayres’ cosmetics department wished customers a “Merry Clinique.”
But where was “Merry Christmas”?
Ayres is Glenbrook’s most-decorated store, so I began my search there. There were plenty of ads for its “holiday sale,” and songs on the mall’s public-address system wished shoppers a “Happy Holiday” during this “Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
But which holiday, exactly? What time of year?
Finally, in a second-floor corner near the bathrooms, I discovered a clue: an advertisement for gift cards. One card pictured a snowflake. Another had an evergreen tree, and another a snowflake. Then I saw it: A card bearing the image of a menorah, and the wish for a “Happy Hanukkah.”
Mystery solved. The shoppers crowding into Fort Wayne’s malls must be Jewish!
But with a recent Fox News poll showing 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, I knew the evidence had to be misleading. Finally, at a place called the Holiday Store – how ironic is that? – I found what I was looking for.
“Christmas items,” the sign said. “Twenty-five percent off.”
I should have known. Even when Christmas gets mentioned, it gets devalued.
You don’t have to be religious to get cranky when so many people work hard to deny what is obvious: The stores aren’t full of people this time of year – and the nation doesn’t screech to a halt each Dec. 25 – because of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or even the winter solstice. Yet, according to a poll by the American Family Association, a conservative Christian group, 91 percent of TV ads are avoiding the mention of Christmas.
No longer willing to see the holiday treated like a four-letter word, Manuel Zamorano of Sacramento, Calif., created the Committee to Save Merry Christmas this year and is already claiming at least one convert. Speaking by phone, he told me Macy’s Department Stores – which purchased L.S. Ayres this year – has agreed to use “Merry Christmas” in its ads beginning next year. Neither Glenbrook nor Ayres’ headquarters returned my phone calls, so I can’t explain why they do what they do – or don’t do.
“There are two groups out there,” he said. “The first group doesn’t realize ‘Merry Christmas’ has been taken out of our culture. The second group realizes it, but doesn’t know what to do about it. That’s why we’ve had 20,000 hits on our Web site savemerrychristmas.org in a single day.”
As a Christian, it wasn’t Ayres’ “Hanukkah” gift card that offended me. It was the ad’s religious double-standard that bothered me, and you would think usually astute corporate executives and advertising gurus would comprehend the reaction. In their apparent zeal to avoid offending the 5 percent of the population that ignores Christmas, they risk alienating the vast majority of their customers.
It’s already happening.
“When people say, ‘Happy Holidays,’ I generally say, ‘Merry Christmas,’” said Betty Green of Van Buren, Ind., as she took a break from shopping. “Each person and store has the right to do what they want, but I’d like to think I’d be less likely to shop at stores that don’t (acknowledge Christmas).”
She may not be alone. The Committee to Save Merry Christmas and other groups are encouraging people to shop at stores using the C-word – and to avoid those that don’t. Just Wednesday, the American Family Association reported Target and Sears stores may start using “Christmas” in their ads.
Unlike the debates over manger scenes in courthouse squares, this is not a church-state issue. It’s not even a religious issue, since true Christians don’t mistake sales for salvation. This is about Americans using their money to influence corporate policy – a perfectly legitimate process that happens every day, in a million different ways.
“‘Merry Christmas’ isn’t a curse; it’s a blessing,” Zamorano said. “Even if you’re of another faith, you shouldn’t be offended by it.”
So Merry Christmas to you all.
There. I said it, and I’m glad.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/13359471.htm
Personal Note: Merry Christmas from our family to yours !!!
May we all be blessed.
“Merry Christmas!” the shivering Salvation Army bell-ringer said cheerily as I stuffed a couple bucks in his red kettle just outside Glenbrook Square.
“Don’t you mean, ‘Happy Holidays’?” I answered, doing my best imitation of an ACLU lawyer.
“I don’t go for that politically correct stuff,” he replied.
He’s not alone. Christ was exorcized from America’s civic Christmas celebration a long time ago. Today, the battle is simply to keep Christmas in Christmas – and, at long last, the good guys seem to be on the offensive.
Fueled by conservative groups, cable TV and the Internet, this campaign to conserve Christmas is gaining notoriety and momentum. Just in time, too: Sherlock Holmes would be hard-pressed to detect even a hint of the C-word at Glenbrook and, I suspect, most other shopping centers.
I spent an afternoon at Glenbrook last week – the things I’ll
do for a story — and saw plenty
of wreaths, lights, trees, snowflakes, garland and an assortment of red-and-green signs. I saw
Santa Claus, snowmen and
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Victoria’s Secret was selling
skimpy Santa-style lingerie. Kay Jewelers was selling “Santa certificates.” Rogers & Hollands was having its “jeweltide celebration,” and L.S. Ayres’ cosmetics department wished customers a “Merry Clinique.”
But where was “Merry Christmas”?
Ayres is Glenbrook’s most-decorated store, so I began my search there. There were plenty of ads for its “holiday sale,” and songs on the mall’s public-address system wished shoppers a “Happy Holiday” during this “Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
But which holiday, exactly? What time of year?
Finally, in a second-floor corner near the bathrooms, I discovered a clue: an advertisement for gift cards. One card pictured a snowflake. Another had an evergreen tree, and another a snowflake. Then I saw it: A card bearing the image of a menorah, and the wish for a “Happy Hanukkah.”
Mystery solved. The shoppers crowding into Fort Wayne’s malls must be Jewish!
But with a recent Fox News poll showing 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas, I knew the evidence had to be misleading. Finally, at a place called the Holiday Store – how ironic is that? – I found what I was looking for.
“Christmas items,” the sign said. “Twenty-five percent off.”
I should have known. Even when Christmas gets mentioned, it gets devalued.
You don’t have to be religious to get cranky when so many people work hard to deny what is obvious: The stores aren’t full of people this time of year – and the nation doesn’t screech to a halt each Dec. 25 – because of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or even the winter solstice. Yet, according to a poll by the American Family Association, a conservative Christian group, 91 percent of TV ads are avoiding the mention of Christmas.
No longer willing to see the holiday treated like a four-letter word, Manuel Zamorano of Sacramento, Calif., created the Committee to Save Merry Christmas this year and is already claiming at least one convert. Speaking by phone, he told me Macy’s Department Stores – which purchased L.S. Ayres this year – has agreed to use “Merry Christmas” in its ads beginning next year. Neither Glenbrook nor Ayres’ headquarters returned my phone calls, so I can’t explain why they do what they do – or don’t do.
“There are two groups out there,” he said. “The first group doesn’t realize ‘Merry Christmas’ has been taken out of our culture. The second group realizes it, but doesn’t know what to do about it. That’s why we’ve had 20,000 hits on our Web site savemerrychristmas.org in a single day.”
As a Christian, it wasn’t Ayres’ “Hanukkah” gift card that offended me. It was the ad’s religious double-standard that bothered me, and you would think usually astute corporate executives and advertising gurus would comprehend the reaction. In their apparent zeal to avoid offending the 5 percent of the population that ignores Christmas, they risk alienating the vast majority of their customers.
It’s already happening.
“When people say, ‘Happy Holidays,’ I generally say, ‘Merry Christmas,’” said Betty Green of Van Buren, Ind., as she took a break from shopping. “Each person and store has the right to do what they want, but I’d like to think I’d be less likely to shop at stores that don’t (acknowledge Christmas).”
She may not be alone. The Committee to Save Merry Christmas and other groups are encouraging people to shop at stores using the C-word – and to avoid those that don’t. Just Wednesday, the American Family Association reported Target and Sears stores may start using “Christmas” in their ads.
Unlike the debates over manger scenes in courthouse squares, this is not a church-state issue. It’s not even a religious issue, since true Christians don’t mistake sales for salvation. This is about Americans using their money to influence corporate policy – a perfectly legitimate process that happens every day, in a million different ways.
“‘Merry Christmas’ isn’t a curse; it’s a blessing,” Zamorano said. “Even if you’re of another faith, you shouldn’t be offended by it.”
So Merry Christmas to you all.
There. I said it, and I’m glad.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/13359471.htm
Personal Note: Merry Christmas from our family to yours !!!
May we all be blessed.
Last edited:
:
