The Way to Be

JC Penney did the exact opposite of Susan G. Komen For the Cure this past week:

It stood up to rightwing bullies.

The department store chain hired Ellen DeGeneres as spokesperson got attacked by the American Family Association's anti-gay organization, One Million Moms. The Ron Johnson, the man who created the Apple Stores and recently became CEO of JC Penney, was unequivocal in response:

The fact is, he just made an uncool (maybe once cool) store cool again. With Ellen, who is not exactly the edgiest comedian working today. But she is a trailblazer, and so was Apple, and the trailblazers that survive are rewarded.

The AFA just did JC Penney the billion-dollar favor in mass publicity. They have effectively rebranded JC Penney, the inverse of the de-branding of SKGFTC. A lot of people gotta be looking forward to JC Penney's next quarterly earnings announcement now.

I'll bet they already won.