The right-wing American Family Association, having most recently been in the news for calling for the US government to purge the military of all Muslims, is now gearing up for it’s annual ‘war against the war on Christmas’ campaign.
The AFA fights this “war” by calling for boycotts on retailers who don’t use the word Christmas in their advertising and in-store promotions. This year they are singling out Gap Stores, which also owns the brands Old Navy and Banana Republic.
It’s revealing though that Gap actually is using the word “Christmas” in their advertising, but they are also aggressively and prominently trying to be inclusive of non-Christians that also have holidays around the same time (video).
Perhaps it isn’t the absence of the word ‘Christmas’ so much as it is the effort to be inclusive and respect diversity that has the AFA so riled up.
The AFA publishes a “naughty and nice” list, where the ‘naughty’ are targets of the boycott. The ‘naughties’ can be taken as a proxy list of companies that value and respect diversity, and therefore are proper and ideal companies from which to purchase your Eid gifts for next week.
In addition to the Gap stable of brands mentioned above, Nordstroms, Barnes and Noble, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Radio Shack and Victoria’s Secret (yes, that Victoria’s Secret) made the “naughty” list, and so are also all excellent choices for gift buying.
