Last week’s blog was about how Komen had a PR problem because of different side complaints from supporters caused by their different decisions to support or not support their grant to Planned Parenthood. I was disappointed with the PR for Komen and hoped to see an example of good PR to re-encourage me as a PR student and show me that it’s not all bad. I’m glad to say that JC Penney has charged the PR spark within me with their (in my opinion) well handled PR regarding their decision to hire Ellen DeGeneres as their company spokesperson.
JC Penney announced that their new spokesperson would be Ellen DeGeneres and she had announced to the public her excitement for the partnership. However, the conservative One Million Moms group did not share that excitement for the new partnership. The group members are pressing JC Penney to fire DeGeneres and hire a new spokesperson due to the fact that she is a lesbian. The members feel that DeGeneres’ personal life decisions reflect poorly on the JC Penney company and is opposite of what JC Penney is supposed to represent. The group’s argument is that “JC Penney is supposed to be middle America, the place where families shop... and people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman and children should not be exposed and propagandized in homosexuality have a moral problem with that,” said Sandy Rios, Fox News contributor. (Source.)
JC Penney has been getting a lot of heat about their partnership with DeGeneres just like Komen was getting heat for canceling their grant to Planned Parenthood but JC Penney rose to the challenge. They stood strong behind their decision and came out and said they would continue the partnership with DeGeneres. I felt like the PR decision behind that was brilliant. No matter if people agreed with Komen’s decision to support the grant or not most people could agree that Komen didn’t seem strong in their manner to keep changing their minds. JC Penney on the other hand made a decision and stuck to it and displayed a strong and united front with DeGeneres. “JC Penney officials were unwavering in their support of DeGeneres,” said NBC New York. (Source.) Unwavering. A perfect word choice for this situation. A company and their PR should be unwavering or they look weak and lose credibility.
The One Million Moms group is threatening to boycott shopping at JC Penney because of DeGeneres. I thought of it as absurd, but I wondered what a mother of those “like” beliefs would say about this situation. My own mother is a conservative, Christian mother like the moms described in the group. I called my mom and informed her about this controversy going on and asked what her stance would be and I was impressed with her answer. “Someone doesn’t deserve to be fired because they are gay and I’m not going to stop shopping there because of her. I love their clothes and low prices. Gay people deserve to work too. How is this different than when people refused black people? It’s not different which makes it wrong,” said Oralia K. (Last name unavailable for privacy purposes.) It really dawned on me how serious this is once I heard my mom say that. If the company had fired DeGeneres what message would that be sending? PR would have been a nightmare after that. I think the PR is being handled great with the company releasing statements that they will continue to stand by her and their decision.
It brings me hope that even in the midst of all other negative PR moments there are still shinning examples of good ones. PR should be all day every day because if you are controlling things as they come up then you will be better prepared for when something bigger happens and you will know how to handle it. I think JC Penney handled this perfectly. I for one will continue to shop there and tell anyone who will listen to shop there. “Don’t back down to bullies.” That was what we were taught throughout childhood and this is the adult version of it in this JC Penney/Ellen DeGeneres/One Million Moms situation. JC Penney and DeGeneres won’t back down to bullies like One Million Moms and that is a prime example of a great PR decision.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/ellen-degeneres-one-million-moms-jc-penney_n_1262623.html
JC Penney announced that their new spokesperson would be Ellen DeGeneres and she had announced to the public her excitement for the partnership. However, the conservative One Million Moms group did not share that excitement for the new partnership. The group members are pressing JC Penney to fire DeGeneres and hire a new spokesperson due to the fact that she is a lesbian. The members feel that DeGeneres’ personal life decisions reflect poorly on the JC Penney company and is opposite of what JC Penney is supposed to represent. The group’s argument is that “JC Penney is supposed to be middle America, the place where families shop... and people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman and children should not be exposed and propagandized in homosexuality have a moral problem with that,” said Sandy Rios, Fox News contributor. (Source.)
JC Penney has been getting a lot of heat about their partnership with DeGeneres just like Komen was getting heat for canceling their grant to Planned Parenthood but JC Penney rose to the challenge. They stood strong behind their decision and came out and said they would continue the partnership with DeGeneres. I felt like the PR decision behind that was brilliant. No matter if people agreed with Komen’s decision to support the grant or not most people could agree that Komen didn’t seem strong in their manner to keep changing their minds. JC Penney on the other hand made a decision and stuck to it and displayed a strong and united front with DeGeneres. “JC Penney officials were unwavering in their support of DeGeneres,” said NBC New York. (Source.) Unwavering. A perfect word choice for this situation. A company and their PR should be unwavering or they look weak and lose credibility.
The One Million Moms group is threatening to boycott shopping at JC Penney because of DeGeneres. I thought of it as absurd, but I wondered what a mother of those “like” beliefs would say about this situation. My own mother is a conservative, Christian mother like the moms described in the group. I called my mom and informed her about this controversy going on and asked what her stance would be and I was impressed with her answer. “Someone doesn’t deserve to be fired because they are gay and I’m not going to stop shopping there because of her. I love their clothes and low prices. Gay people deserve to work too. How is this different than when people refused black people? It’s not different which makes it wrong,” said Oralia K. (Last name unavailable for privacy purposes.) It really dawned on me how serious this is once I heard my mom say that. If the company had fired DeGeneres what message would that be sending? PR would have been a nightmare after that. I think the PR is being handled great with the company releasing statements that they will continue to stand by her and their decision.
It brings me hope that even in the midst of all other negative PR moments there are still shinning examples of good ones. PR should be all day every day because if you are controlling things as they come up then you will be better prepared for when something bigger happens and you will know how to handle it. I think JC Penney handled this perfectly. I for one will continue to shop there and tell anyone who will listen to shop there. “Don’t back down to bullies.” That was what we were taught throughout childhood and this is the adult version of it in this JC Penney/Ellen DeGeneres/One Million Moms situation. JC Penney and DeGeneres won’t back down to bullies like One Million Moms and that is a prime example of a great PR decision.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/ellen-degeneres-one-million-moms-jc-penney_n_1262623.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/04/us-jcpenney-ellendegeneres-idUSTRE8121VK20120204
No comments:
Post a Comment