Do they know it’s Christmas

article written by Heather.

It’s tough enough working out how to pay for Christmas and choosing what to buy. So, spare a thought for the shoppers who also have to concern themselves with how Christmas-friendly are the stores they visit.

They can stop worrying now. The site Stand for Christmas rates retailers in terms of their Christmas-friendliness.

In my innocence, I assumed that any retailer would welcome the Christmas spending compulsion. But it seems that just being happy to take our money isn’t Christmas-friendly enough. For a good rating, a retailer has to weally, weally wub Christmas.

To be more specific, to meet the approval of Focus on the Family (” a California non profit religious corporation”) a top-rated retailer has to do things like specifically mention Christmas in its advertising or have nativity scene.

My stupid atheist misremembering of the new testament made me think it contained ideas such as it not being possible to serve both god and mammon.

I stand corrected. Focus on the Family make it quite clear that – if you own a shop and you DON’T name check the baby Jesus to up your profits – you are betraying Christianity.

Now, just in case you don’t much like the idea of shopping at places that Focus on the Family are talking up, I’ve assembled a list of shame from the ratings*:

These shops got the lowest Christmas-friendly rating, with more than half of respondents thinking their attitude to Christmas was “offensive”:

Xmas-hating Hall of Shame

Xmas-hating Hall of Shame

I suggest you take your cash there. :-)
( If you have to buy any presents for children, you may be relieved to know that Toys R Us was only slightly less Christmas-hating..)

* Please note, ratings can go down as well as up. This is just today’s.

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6 Responses to “Do they know it’s Christmas”

  1. mikespeir Windows Vista Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5 wrote:

    Believe me, if the stores’ market research showed that they could do better by saying, “Merry Christmas,” they would. But that don’t, which is telling. Christianity is slowly losing its grip on our society.

    This comment was written at December 4th, 2009 at 22:40,

  2. Riker Windows XP Google Chrome 3.0.195.27 wrote:

    FYI, spots 1,2 and 5 are all under the Gap, Inc. company umbrella, so that one company is going a loooooong way toward irking the irritable religious masses. I’m proud to have worked for them once upon a time.

    Cheers!

    This comment was written at December 5th, 2009 at 1:31,

  3. the chaplain Windows XP Google Chrome 3.0.195.33 wrote:

    The Religious Right has done a remarkable job of taking the most festive season on the American calendar and needlessly turning it into a battleground of political correctness. They’ve done more to undermine the alleged meaning of the season than all the retailers on your chart combined. They really should be congratulated on their fine accomplishment. 8)

    This comment was written at December 5th, 2009 at 16:06,

  4. vjack Mac OS X Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5 wrote:

    I just love how saying “happy holidays” is now considered offensive!

    This comment was written at December 5th, 2009 at 16:45,

  5. Heather Windows XP Mozilla Firefox 3.0.6 wrote:

    I realise that the annual round of nonsense “They’ve banned Christmas” stories hasn’t kicked off, yet, or maybe I just haven’t looked properly.

    For anyone that ever read Piers Anthony, I always forget about Gap… I will certainly see them more favourably from now on.

    vjack
    What a great way to cause offence,

    This comment was written at December 6th, 2009 at 21:55,

  6. Guam Windows 7 Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5 wrote:

    thanks…Guam Chat.

    This comment was written at December 9th, 2009 at 4:04,