* Target  (612) 304-6073  Guest.Relations@target.com

UPDATE - AFA ENDS BOYCOTT

Click Here to read the AFA Press Release

In their official statement, Target said: “Over the course of the next few weeks, our advertising, marketing and merchandising will become more specific to the holiday that is approaching – referring directly to holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah. For example, you will see reference to Christmas in select television commercials, circulars and in-store signage."

Original Target Issue Concern:
Target refuses to use the word "Christmas" in any of their corporate advertising. Their latest 36-page ad insert did use the phrase "holiday" 31 times. In addition, Target has banned the Salvation Army bell ringers from their stores, but opted to sell items online for customers to donate to the Salvation Army. Ironically, Target doesn't give a single cent to them, but profits from your purchase. They also charge you to ship the item to the Salvation Army.

Nordstrom (206) 628-2111 President Blake W. Nordstrom contact@nordstrom.com 
On their "holiday shipping" section of the website, they only refer to "December 25."  Their catalogs do not mention the word "Christmas."  Mr. Nordstrom says he welcomes your comments.

Lowe's   (800) 445-6937  

We are pleased to update you about Lowe’s sale of Christmas trees.  Lowe’s informed the AFA that it is removing banners referring to “holiday trees” from its stores (the actual product signs inside Lowe’s stores did say Christmas trees, but the outside banner did not).  Lowe’s says it has proudly sold Christmas trees in its stores for decades, and continues to do so this year in all of its stores nationwide.  All 49 varieties of live and artificial trees at Lowe’s and on Lowes.com are labeled as Christmas trees. 

Lowe’s assures AFA that the language on the banner was a mistake, and was not in any way an attempt to remove Christmas from the season.  

We applaud Lowe’s for listening to its customers and responding to their concerns.  Just as we alerted Lowe’s to our concerns, now let’s show them our support by sending thank you emails and shopping in their stores.  Click Here To Thank Lowe's Now!

Kohl's UPDATE: Kohl's has provided AFA with a corporate statement.  They dispute the charge made on The O'Reilly Factor and provided a letter stating they "would use the word 'Christmas' in some of our advertising."  AFA is pleased to let you know that this in, in fact, the case.  Kohl's asks us to inform you of their plans to incorporate "Christmas" in future advertising.  We appreciate Kohl's listening to their customers concerns and responding in kind.

These companies have banned "Christmas" from their television commercials.  In a review of commercials aired on prime-time broadcast network, these companies clearly marketed their ads to Christmas shoppers without using the word "Christmas."

In a total of 116 commercials, only 11 (9%) included the word "Christmas" in the ad.

SC Johnson
Therese Van Ryne Public Relations Manager
tmvanryn@scj.com
262-260-3709

L.L. Bean
publicaffairs@llbean.com
800-441-5713

Zales
David H. Sternblitz, Vice President
ir@zalecorp.com
1-800-311-JEWEL.

Kmart
Julian C. Day, President and Chief Executive Officer
kmartccn@kmart.com
248-463-1000

Outback Steakhouse

Emails to Outback are being rejected with the message, "Your message was deleted without being read."  You may wish to make a personal call.
Stephanie Amberg, Director of public relations stephanieamberg@outback.com
813-282-1225

Chris T. Sullivan Chairman of the Board chrissullivan@outback.com

A. William  Allen, III Chief Executive Officer billallen@outback.com

Benjamin P. Novello President, Outback Steakhouse bennovello@outback.com

Lexus
media_relations@tma.toyota.com
1-800-GO TOYOTA

Old Navy
custserv@oldnavy.com
1-800-653-6289

Old Navy is proud of their anti-Christmas stance, simply referring to the "holiday" (Christmas) as nothing more than a tradition. 

Kroger
kroger.investors@kroger.com
513-762-4000

Best Buy
Susan Busch Director, Corporate Public Relations
susan.busch@bestbuy.com
612-292-4000, ext 4

Cingular
Stephen M. Carter, Chief Executive Officer
1-866-246-4852

Reckitt Benckiser
Tom Corran, SVP IR and corporate communications
tom.corran@reckittbenckiser.com
corpcomms@reckittbenckiser.com
973 404 2600

Pier 1
Merianne Kimmel Roth, Senior PR Manager
mkroth@pier1.com
817-252-8080

Red Lobster
Darden Media Relations dardeninfo@darden.com
Joe R. Lee, Chairman & CEO jlee@darden.com
407-245-4372

Office Depot
Bruce Nelson Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
bnelson@officedepot.com
561-438-4800

Gillette
James (Jim) M. Kilts Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President
james_kilts@gillette.com
John  F.   Manfredi SVP Corporate Affairs
john_manfredi@gillette.com
617-421-7000

Applebee's
Laurie, Ellison, Executive Director of Communications
Laurie.ellison@applebees.com
888-59APPLE

Burlington Coat
Monroe G. Milstein – Chairman, President, and CEO
Monroe.milstein@coat.com
Phone: 609-387-7800

Dell
Investor_Relations@dell.com
1-800-WWW-DELL

Milton-Bradley
Gail Carvelli Media Relations Manager
gcarvelli@hasbro.com
401) 431-8697