JC Penney – Ellen Degeneres Controversy

Ron Johnson and Ellen DeGeneres

It’s funny, this morning our site had a few people stirring around looking at the JC Penney articles, and then I saw a note from a Facebook Friend about JC Penney CEO, Ron Johnson.  (I must have been living under a rock or glued to a screen, because I didn’t realize that this current controversy was stirring.)

Apparently a group called One Million Moms is unhappy with jcp’s choice of Ellen DeGeners as a spokesperson because she’s gay.   The One Million Moms group has rallied their members to make calls to JC Penney store managers to voice their opinions.

Ellen DeGeneres has done many product endorsements over the past several years.  She signed with Amercian Express as their spokesmodel in November 2004. In September 2008 she signed with CoverGirl and Olay as the spokesmodel for their Simply Ageless makeup line. “Her beauty and down-to-earth personality fit perfectly with what CoverGirl represents,” said CoverGirl spokesperson. Ellen was also the face of Glaceau VitaminWater campaign (2010).

Ellen DeGeneres has danced her way into the hearts of millions of viewers as the spunky host of her syndicated talk show “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” The show premiered in 2003, and in its first three seasons won an Emmy as outstanding talk show.  Throughout her career, she won 12 Emmy Awards for her stand-up comedy.

According to CBS News, DeGeneres responded to the group on her TV show yesterday, saying, “This organization doesn’t think I should be the spokesperson because I am gay. So for those of you tuning in for the first time, I’m gay. I hope you were sitting down. … So they wanted to get me fired, and I’m proud and happy to say that J.C. Penney stuck by their decision to make me their spokesperson.”

In a statement last week, J.C. Penney said it stands behind its partnership with the talk show host.

On “CBS This Morning,” Thursday, J.C. Penney chief executive officer Ron Johnson, said the company “shares the same values” as DeGeneres and that the decision to have her as a spokesperson was a “no-brainer.”

“We don’t look at it like a controversy. One of the great things about America is people can speak their mind. And you know, the organization that believes one thing has spoken and it was great to see Ellen share her views yesterday. And we stand squarely behind Ellen as our spokesperson and that’s a great thing. Because she shares the same values that we do in our company. Our company was founded 110 years ago on the golden rule, which is about treating people fair and square, just like you would like to be treated yourself. And we think Ellen represents the values of our company and the values that we share.”

So, that’s our update on the JC Penney – Ellen Degeneres Controversy.  We’re not quite sure why this is even an issue in 2012.