Consumers Flock to Weekend Shopping Boycott(Target Boycott and Lowe's sells "Holiday" Trees)

American Family Association ^ | November 22, 2005 | Jody Brown and Allie Martin

[avant_garde]

AgapePress) - An official with a pro-family group reports that a boycott campaign aimed at Target Stores nationwide has succeeded in attracting hundreds of thousands of consumers who say they intend to shop elsewhere during what is traditionally the busiest shopping weekend of the year.

On Friday (Nov. 18) the American Family Association (AFA) launched on online boycott campaign against Target, citing the retailer's decision to ban Salvation Army kettles from their store entrances as well as the use of "Merry Christmas" in their in-store promotions and retail advertising. By the following Monday, almost 300,000 individuals had "signed" an online petition indicating they planned to express their disapproval of that decision by avoiding Target Stores during the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. At press time, that number had jumped to more than 340,000

[Graybeard58]

By worrying about the retailing of Christmas are we secularizing our own religion? When did we let a tree and shopping define Christmas? When we have to go into the world to find Christ we are lost.

Rock solid statements and questions. I applaud your attitude.

[sasafras]

I agree in theory with you, but unfortunately we have allowed to much to be taken away - you know the story who will be left to fight for our freedoms if we dont fight for others. The term Christmas or the Salvation Army may not be significant to you but I see them as a battle for the libs to remove any reference to God in our society. Again little bits at a time. I think retailers would love to remove any reference to God and just have it as a spending tradition.

I am sorry if my comments seemed like a personal attack just trying to get my point across.

[Amntn]

"keep quiet and let the abortionists, homosexuals and perverts continue to attack Christ and Christianity."

That has to be one of the most idiotic things I have ever read.

[blabs]

I'm all for removing the word "Christmas" from all its' commercialization. Lets get rid of the "Holiday" tree, and the sake of buying merchandise just to buy merchandise, SATAN clause, and any and all of the other pagan symbolism and garbage which has tainted the true meaning of Christmas.

The more we allow this religous day to be purified, the more it will mean. The less commercialized, the more personalized.

We are not buying much of anything this year, not even a tree. Giving thanks for having each other, for God's mercy, grace, and forgiveness, and sharing each others love and company is worth more than any merchandise (especially considering that most of the items you buy today are made via slave labor in communist china).

Only when we have purified this frankenstein holiday will Christ be allowed to shine through.

[Vinnie]

I don't like Walmart, cheap, second rate.
Don't shop Target either, store policy.
And if Lowe's is selling 'Holiday Trees'( should that be in caps or not?),they are going to be on my S--- list.

[weegee]

Dodge. You said they didn't support any homosexual agenda, I showed they did.

Then you bring the Federal government's support of Pride Month into this. Yes, under Bill Clinton homosexuals were afforded privileged status. Doesn't make it right.

When is heterosexuality celebrated?

No one cheers when people do the right thing.

I am disgusted by "major corporations" support for homosexuality. And yes some actively funnel money to pro-homosexual charities.

Target wasn't being singled out for their support of the homosexual agenda. You were the one who brought that into the discussion (and got it wrong). They were being singled out for adopting a corporate wide plan to end their active participation in all things Christmas. I don't see them ending their "holiday sales" though.

[serpentineshel]

Yes...actually I have. I write letters and emails to any company that I'm not happy with and to companies that I get good service from.

I'm a firm believer that companies deserve that. Because of the fact that I worked in a customer service based job for a lot of years and I know how important it is to get feedback from people--good OR bad. And I try to be constructive about it...not complainy.

[sasafras]

"By worrying about the retailing of Christmas are we secularizing our own religion? When did we let a tree and shopping define Christmas? When we have to go into the world to find Christ we are lost.

Rock solid statements and questions. I applaud your attitude."

Real Christians never did, however this is not about what you and I do individually but what as a community of Christians we expect. It is a mockery of the season - we dont celebrate because its the 25th day of December, we dont turn the tree into an idol, presents are not the reason - Christ is. Slippery slope, slippery slope.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Sorry. I will not punish a store for not celebrating my religious holidays.

.... even though they're trying to make a buck off of your holidays?! Something about truth in retailing comes to mind.

[serpentineshel]

Perhaps I choose my fights. And the fact that I'm not going to change someone ELSE's belief system is not something I'm worried about.

Why is it that the people at Target aren't allowed to believe something different than you?

[sasafras]

""keep quiet and let the abortionists, homosexuals and perverts continue to attack Christ and Christianity."

That has to be one of the most idiotic things I have ever read."

Ah......cat got your tongue? Come on now you can do better than that cant you?

[stevio]

If they ignore a Christian holiday, Christians should ignore their stores.

It never really bothered me as much until this year. All these companies bend over backwards for muslims, homos, etc., but a truly Christain holiday they refuse to use the term "Christmas"? I guess if these boycotts are sucessful they will be complaining that they didn't sell enough during, uhh, the holiday season. I will try to boycott any anti-Christain store, if I can't I will let the manager know of my displeasure.

[weegee]

Wal-Mart messed up this year as well. They segregated their Christmas items into the PC "holiday" label (other holidays at this point on the calendar were not), greeted customers with "Happy Holidays", and had an employee to reply to an email with a denial of Christmas (brought up the pagan origins of the holiday).

Wal-Mart bends to demands by Catholic League (web site query now changed)

The controversy was sparked when a woman recently complained that Wal-Mart was replacing its "Merry Christmas" greeting with "Happy Holidays."

The woman reportedly received an e-mail response from a customer-service representative, which read: "Walmart is a worldwide organization and must remain conscious of this. The majority of the world still has different practices other than "christmas" which is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Siberian shamanism. The colors associated with "christmas" red and white are actually a representation of of the aminita mascera mushroom. Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoth and the tree from the worship of Baal. It is a wide wide world."

[snip]

Donohue pointed to the company Web site for an example of discrimination against Christmas. If the word "Hanukkah" was typed in the search engine, 200 retail items were returned. The term "Kwanzaa" returned 77. But when "Christmas" was entered, the message said: "We've brought you to our 'Holiday' page based on your search."

Reportedly the policies at Wal-Mart have been changed back, but they have been guilty of some of the same offenses.

[Amntn]

"Ah......cat got your tongue? Come on now you can do better than that cant you?"

No I can't do better than that. At least I chose not to. I truly do believe it is the perfect time of year for goodwill so even though we disagree, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas.

[weegee]

So you would rather adopt politically correct speech?

THAT is how the left wins. Incrementalism.

Take a stand in the culture war.

[sasafras]

"Why is it that the people at Target aren't allowed to believe something different than you?"

They can, thats not the point - this is about making an argument for Christians not to support their policies. If you support Target, libs or anything else - go for it. But this is a Christian nation - founded on Christians beliefs, and to remove the term Christ from this holday is disingenous and secular. 85-90% of all Americans are Christian - we wouldnt want to offend the .1% Muslims? Christ is the reason for the season.

[weegee]

Sure. Add them to the list.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Liberals are infamous for taking bits and pieces of your freedoms and liberities over time so it doesnt seem like your losing anything.

Communists, Socialists, Progressives, "liberals". In this day and age, they're pretty much all the same. Here is the latest list of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Minority leader Nancy Pelosi is a member.

This Caucus is supported by the CPUSA (Communist Party of the USA).

[sasafras]

" Reportedly the policies at Wal-Mart have been changed back, but they have been guilty of some of the same offenses."

Big difference - Walmart was smart enought to change their policy Target is not.

I will be shopping Walmart.

[WhiteGuy]

I guess there are plenty of gullible folks out there who have never considered the old adage, "Don't sweat the small stuff."

Good luck with your boycott, I hope you can find something else that pisses you off when the Christmas season is over.