Restoring 'Christmas' -- Lowe's Axes 'Holiday Trees' Campaign
by Mary Rettig and Jody Brown
November 30, 2005
(AgapePress) - - The president of a Mississippi-based pro-family group says he's pleased that Lowe's home improvement stores have stopped selling "holiday trees" and have changed to offering "Christmas trees." According to the American Family Association (AFA), several major retailers have joined in a politically correct "push to ban" the use of the term "Christmas" in their advertising and in-store promotions. Included in that list, says AFA, are such major outlets as Kmart, Sears, Target, Wal-Mart, and Walgreens. Last week, the pro-family group brought to the attention of the public that another retailer -- this time the home improvement retailer Lowe's -- appeared to have jumped on the bandwagon as well. AFA reported that instead of selling "Christmas trees," Lowe's was offering fresh-cut "holiday trees." (See earlier story)
Following that revelation, "thousands of AFA supporters contacted Lowe's to express their displeasure," states an AFA press release -- resulting in the retailer announcing it was going to refer to all its trees as Christmas trees "to ensure consistency of our message and to avoid confusion among our customers." In addition, Lowe's said it had removed a "Holiday Trees" banner from their storefronts.
Why make such a big deal about the advertising phraseology employed by retailers? AFA president Tim Wildmon responds.
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Tim Wildmon |
"The secularization of Christmas is a serious problem, especially in the retail business today," Wildmon says. "These big corporations are wanting to make money off people at Christmastime for celebrating Christmas, but they want to call it a 'holiday season' -- they don't want to identify it as Christmas because that might offend one or two percent of the American public." And since retailers are unable to remove "Christ" from "Christmas," says the AFA president, many of are simply trying to do away with Christmas. Such "anti-Christian bias," he adds, does not bode well with consumers.
"Companies who choose to abandon the national observance of Christmas are finding that Americans are not afraid to speak out with their pocketbooks," he says. Last year the pro-family group called for a boycott of Federated Stores because the retailer had banned "Merry Christmas" in its advertising. But this year, "they are using 'Merry Christmas,'" notes Wildmon.
AFA also reports that more than 400,000 individuals have signed an online petition to stop retailers' ban on the use of "Christmas." The AFA leader says while this petition, which is being sent to retailers, likely will have no effect on company policies this year, it could affect things next year.
As for the Lowe's announcement, Wildmon offers kudos, saying it is "good to know Lowe's is a company that listens to their customers," That quality, he says, is a "rarity in today's politically correct retail market."
