The L.A. Times has an excellent piece on the American Family Association's recent call for Christians to boycott Gap. Their offense? Failing to mention the word "Christmas" in their holiday advertising. Except that they actually do mention Christmas, so maybe the real offense is mentioning Christmas in the same breath as Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and solstice.
But as Dan Neil points out, their injunction against Gap may not matter at all anyway.
If you look at the history of the organization's boycotts -- often involving punitive actions against companies that support gay rights -- you'll see that they have no commercial impact. Actually, these boycotts seem to be good for business: In the decade of the AFA's boycott against Disney, which ended in 2006, the world's largest entertainment conglomerate's revenue roughly doubled to $34 billion. Likewise for Ford, which just posted a billion-dollar profit in the third quarter of 2009.
Personally, I don't particularly care whether someone wants to wish me a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or a Happy Kwanzaa. Whatever. Do what you want, but don't bleat on about how a cashier wishing you "Happy Holidays" is "taking the Christ out of Christmas," especially if you're indulging in the consumerist pseudo-holiday madness that is known as Black Friday. After all, nothing says "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" like two soccer moms assailing each other with their shopping carts to get the last $40 mechanical hamster.
On another note, I did go out this morning, on Black Friday. Not because I wanted to, but because I was assigned the duty of interviewing shoppers for our annual Black Friday shopping story. The chore was not as horrible as I imagined it to be, although I parked at the mall and hoofed it to Wal-Mart and Best Buy. My soaking wet shoes and socks are now parked on top of my desk in the newsroom. I just hope I don't forget to bring them home with me.
I am terrible at updating this blog on a regular basis. Please forgive me, Internets.
