'Christmas' Winning War on Christmas in Marketing Messages 
 
 But AFA Carries on Fight by Targeting Dick's Sporting Goods, as Retailer Promotes 'Holiday Shop' 
 
 NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The War on Christmas may be in its final days. 
 
 This season, merry Christmas -- not happy holidays or season's greetings -- will dominate retailer's marketing messages. There will be Christmas sales and Christmas trees and Christmas carols galore. That has the American Family Association, arguably one of the loudest voices advocating the use of Christmas in retailer's marketing messages over the past few years, predicting that its crusade could conclude in the next year or two. 
 
 Dick's Holiday Shop Dick's Holiday Shop 
 
 Randy Sharp, director-special projects at the AFA, said that in the past five years the group has seen the percentage of retailers recognizing Christmas in their advertising rise from 20% to 80%. Just eight retailers are left on the group's list of " Companies Against Christmas ." 
 
 It's also become more challenging to find a large, national retailer to single out for the group's annual boycott. This year, Dick's Sporting Goods, which boasts an online "Holiday Shop," will be the target of the boycott. The AFA is expected to send an Action Alert to its 2.3 million supporters on Friday morning. That alert will urge shoppers to boycott Dick's between now and Dec. 25. It also calls for consumers to email President-Chief Operating Officer Joseph Schmidt and then call Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Hennion. The retailer declined to comment. In the past, Target, Sears, Gap Inc. and Walmart have been targets. 
 
 "We've had a complete flip," Mr. Sharp says. "The politically correct holiday verbiage is going away. Companies are getting the message." 
 
 Indeed, retailers that have found themselves the target of boycotts or media and consumer scrutiny have responded swiftly in recent years. Lowe's "Family Trees" were renamed "Christmas Trees," while Walmart's "Holiday Shop" is now a "Christmas Shop." Midway through the 2005 holiday season, Target, facing a boycott, announced its advertising messages would become more specific and include references to Christmas. And last year, Gap Inc. responded to a boycott by issuing a press release highlighting the use of the phrase "Merry Christmas" in its upcoming Old Navy ads. 
 
 Mr. Sharp stopped short of saying that he was surprised by how quickly and readily most retailers have changed their marketing. But he did point out that, especially in this type of economic environment, retailers are being careful not to alienate customers. 
 
 "Shoppers vote with their wallets every day," said Ellen Davis, a VP at the National Retail Federation. "[When it comes to boycotts,] retailers realize, 'It could just as easily have been us.'" 
 
 The NRF does not formally advise retailers on whether they should use the word Christmas, but Ms. Davis said it does provide statistics. This year's NRF/BigResearch survey found that 91% of consumers plan to celebrate Christmas, compared with 5% for Hanukkah and 2% for Kwanzaa. 
 
 "Retailers dipped their toe into the Christmas waters again last year, and there wasn't much push back. There wasn't a huge outcry from groups offended that retailers were saying Merry Christmas," said Ms. Davis. "We see the word Christmas being used much more this year than three or four years ago. The pendulum seems to have swung back." 
 
 The "extreme backlash" to generic holiday messaging likely caught retailers off guard in years past, Ms. Davis added. Now, phrasing around the holidays is much more strategic. "At this point, it's a conscious decision. It's not just whimsical phrases being tossed around in the marketing department," she said. "These are conversations that are now probably taking place in the C-Suite." 
 
 Retailers certainly tread carefully when it comes to the subject of Christmas. Major retailers such as JCPenney and Target said they don't have formal policies on in-store greetings. And retailers ranging from Gap to Macy's and RadioShack to Sears emphasized their inclusion and respect for shoppers of different beliefs, while noting that at least some of their marketing messages include the word Christmas. RadioShack, however, still appears on the AFA's list of "Companies Against Christmas." A RadioShack spokesman declined to comment on that distinction. 
 
 Plenty view the tactics of the AFA and other groups as bullying, but Mr. Sharp rejects that. "It's not bullying, it's consumer advocacy," he said. The AFA's stance is that retailers should not profit from Christmas, if they refuse to clearly acknowledge it. "When your advertising has trees and ornaments and gift wrapping, you're advertising Christmas, so don't call it holiday," Mr. Sharp said, adding that the group is not at all offended by Happy Hanukkah messages. 
 
 AFA's Naughty or Nice List* 
 
 *Incomplete list, click here for complete list. 
 
 Companies for Christmas 
 
 Company uses term "Christmas" on a regular basis. 
 
 Amazon 
 
 Best Buy 
 
 Cabella's 
 
 JCPenney 
 
 Kmart 
 
 Kohl's 
 
 Lowe's 
 
 Macy's 
 
 Nordstrom 
 
 Petsmart 
 
 Sears 
 
 Target 
 
 Walmart 
 
 Companies Marginalizing Christmas 
 
 Company refers to "Christmas" infrequently or in a single advertising medium. 
 
 Banana Republic 
 
 Gap 
 
 Old Navy 
 
 Limited Brands 
 
 Starbucks 
 
 Toys R Us 
 
 Whole Foods 
 
 Companies Against Christmas 
 
 Company may use "Christmas" sparingly in a single or unique product description. ||||| Naughty or Nice? 
 
 AFA's 2012 listing of top retailers and how they recognize Christmas 
 
 Color Code: 
 
 BLUE : An AFA "5-Star" rated company that promotes and celebrates Christmas on an exceptional basis. 
 
 GREEN : Company uses the term "Christmas" on a regular basis, we consider that company Christmas-friendly. 
 
 YELLOW : Company refers to Christmas infrequently, or in a single advertising medium, but not in others. 
 
 RED : Company may use "Christmas" sparingly in a single or unique product description, but as a company, does not recognize it. 
 
 List updated on 11-12-12 
 
 Companies For "Christmas" AFA Online Store 
 
 ACE Hardware 
 
 Amazon.com 
 
 Bass Pro Shops 
 
 Bed Bath & Beyond 
 
 Belk 
 
 Best Buy 
 
 Big Lots 
 
 Books-A-Million 
 
 Cabella's 
 
 Collective Brands 
 
 Costco 
 
 CVS Pharmacy 
 
 Dick's Sporting Goods 
 
 Dilliards 
 
 Dollar General 
 
 Dollar Tree 
 
 H.E.B. Stores 
 
 HSN.com 
 
 Hallmark 
 
 Hancock Fabrics 
 
 Harris Teeter Stores 
 
 Hobby Lobby 
 
 Home Shopping Network 
 
 JoAnn Fabrics & Crafts Stores 
 
 Kmart 
 
 Kohl's Kroger 
 
 L.L. Bean 
 
 Lowe's 
 
 Macy's 
 
 Marshals 
 
 Meijer 
 
 Menard's 
 
 Michael's Stores 
 
 Neiman Marcus 
 
 Nordstrom 
 
 Office Max 
 
 Petsmart 
 
 Pier One Imports 
 
 ProFlowers.com 
 
 Publix 
 
 QVC.com 
 
 Rite Aid 
 
 Sam's Club 
 
 Sears 
 
 Scheels Sporting Goods 
 
 Super D Drug 
 
 Target 
 
 TJ Maxx 
 
 Toys R Us 
 
 Wal-Mart 
 
 Zappos.com Companies marginal on "Christmas" 1-800-Flowers.com 
 
 Bath & Body Works 
 
 Cooking.com 
 
 Hy-Vee Stores 
 
 Safeway 
 
 Starbucks 
 
 True Value 
 
 UncommonGoods.com 
 
 Walgreens 
 
 Whole Foods Companies AGAINST "Christmas" Banana Republic 
 
 Barnes & Noble 
 
 Family Dollar 
 
 Foot Locker 
 
 Gap Stores BOYCOTT! 
 
 Limited Brands 
 
 Maurice's 
 
 Office Depot 
 
 Old Navy BOYCOTT! 
 
 Radio Shack 
 
 Staples 
 
 Supervalu 
 
 Victoria's Secret 
 
 Based on current advertising, below is a list of companies that avoid, ban, or use the term "Christmas" in their advertising. We will continually update the list, so check back often. 
 
 Criteria - AFA reviewed up to four areas to determine if a company was "Christmas-friendly" in their advertising: print media (newspaper inserts), broadcast media (radio/television), website and/or personal visits to the store. If a company's ad has references to items associated with Christmas (trees, wreaths, lights, etc.), it was considered as an attempt to reach "Christmas" shoppers. 
 
 If a company has items associated with Christmas, but did not use the word "Christmas," then the company is considered as censoring "Christmas." 
 
 Want to report on a company? Send your detailed report to christmas@afa.net. Please know that we receive hundreds of reports (emails) each day. We are unable to respond to each one personally, but your report will be read by one of our staff. 
 
 Note: AFA does not list local or regional companies. Only nationally-recognized companies will be listed. This list only reflects a company's "Christmas" advertising and does not take into account other corporate policies AFA may not agree with. 
 
 SPECIAL ALERT! Legal group offers valuable resources ||||| Complaining about Christmas is one of the most enduring of Christmas traditions. It's not so much the holiday itself that bothers us. It's the way other people insist on celebrating it. In his new book The War on Christmas, Fox News host John Gibson argues for a more Christian Christmas, one that includes crèches and carols in public schools and city halls. "Christians are coming to retake their place in the public square, and the most natural battleground in this war is Christmas," he writes. With their campaign for the phrase "Merry Christmas" in stores and their brief boycott of Target, religious advocacy groups like the Alliance Defense Fund and the American Family Association are trying to prove him right. 
 
 Gibson begins his book with an ode to the Christmas of his youth and says that he's defending traditional public celebration of the holiday from bullying ACLU lawyers and other secularists who are perpetrating a "Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday," as the subtitle of his book puts it. As a matter of American history, however, some of the strongest complaints about the public celebration of Christmas have been lodged from within the Christian tradition—by devout Christians who had little use for the holiday. For a surprising number of American believers, the chief concern wasn't putting Christ back into Christmas. It was taking Christmas out of Christianity. 
 
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 Liberal plots notwithstanding, the Americans who succeeded in banning the holiday were the Puritans of 17th-century Massachusetts. Between 1659 and 1681, Christmas celebrations were outlawed in the colony, and the law declared that anyone caught "observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting or any other way any such days as Christmas day, shall pay for every such offense five shillings." Finding no biblical authority for celebrating Jesus' birth on Dec. 25, the theocrats who ran Massachusetts regarded the holiday as a mere human invention, a remnant of a heathen past. They also disapproved of the rowdy celebrations that went along with it. "How few there are comparatively that spend those holidays … after an holy manner," the Rev. Increase Mather lamented in 1687. "But they are consumed in Compotations, in Interludes, in playing at Cards, in Revellings, in excess of Wine, in Mad Mirth." 
 
 After the English Restoration government reclaimed control of Massachusetts from the Puritans in the 1680s, one of the first acts of the newly appointed royal governor of the colony was to sponsor and attend Christmas religious services. Perhaps fearing a militant Puritan backlash, for the 1686 services he was flanked by redcoats. The Puritan disdain for the holiday endured: As late as 1869, public-school kids in Boston could be expelled for skipping class on Christmas Day. 
 
 The Puritans are the most cited example of anti-Christmas spirit, but not the only one. Quakers, too, took a pass, reasoning that, in the words of 17th-century Quaker apologist Robert Barclay, "All days are alike holy in the sight of God." The Quakers never translated their dismissal of Christmas into legislation in their stronghold in Colonial Pennsylvania. But local meetings, as the Quakers call their assemblies, urged their members to disdain Christmas and to be "zealous in their testimony against the holding up of such days." As late as 1810, the Philadelphia Democratic Press reported that few Pennsylvanians celebrated the holiday. 
 
 Observance of Christmas, or the lack thereof, was one way to differentiate among the Christian sects of Colonial and 19th-century America. Anglicans, Moravians, Dutch Reformed, and Lutherans, to name just a few, did; Quakers, Puritans, Separatists, Baptists, and some Presbyteriansdid not. An 1855 New York Times report on Christmas services in the city noted that Baptist and Methodist churches were closed because they "do not accept the day as a holy one," while Episcopal and Catholic churches were open and "decked with evergreens." New England Congregationalist preacher Henry Ward Beecher remembered decorative greenery as an exotic touch that one could see only in Episcopal churches, "a Romish institution kept up by the Romish church." 
 
 Naturally, some celebrants of the holiday complained about the abstainers. In 1867, Reformed Church minister Henry Harbaugh protested that Presbyterians in his Pennsylvania neighborhood "spend the day working as on any other day. Their children grow up knowing nothing of brightly lit Christmas trees, nor Christmas presents. God have mercy on these Presbyterians, these pagans." You can hear the echo of that sentiment today, in the criticism of the megachurches that have announced that they will be closed on Christmas, because their leaders think congregations and church staff would rather remain home with their families. "Our culture does not need any encouragement to be more self-centered or narcissistic, or to stay at home on Sunday," Bible scholar Ben Witherington III wrote on Beliefnet last week. "Shame on you, megachurches."
– Dick's Sporting Goods gets the unlucky honor of being this year's villain in the “War on Christmas” campaign. The American Family Association has singled it out for a boycott this holiday season because the chain is “against” the holiday, reports Advertising Age. One of its offenses is having a "Holiday Shop” section on its website, with no mention of Christmas. All in all, though, the defense of Christmas has been going splendidly for the AFA, says a spokesman; over five years, the percentage of retailers acknowledging Christmas has soared from 20% to 80%, he says. And while Dick's may be "the 'most anti-Christmas' of all," only eight retailers remain on the “Companies Against Christmas” list, including Barnes & Noble, CVS, and RadioShack. The campaign is “not bullying," says the rep. "It's consumer advocacy." More at the Consumerist.