Saving 'Merry Christmas'
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
LOS ANGELES — It isn’t exactly the season for “Jingle Bells” and Santa Claus, but one man is on a crusade to save Christmas anyway.
Manuel Zammarano has formed the Committee to Save Merry Christmas (search) to protest the fact that big retailers profit from Christmas shopping dollars but refuse to mention the holiday by name.
His group has boycotted Federated Department Stores Inc. (search), which owns Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, for collecting Christmas cash without giving Christmas credit for all the end-of-year gift buying.
Federated issued a statement saying phrases like “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” embrace all religious and ethnic celebrations that take place in November and December and are more appropriate for the “many diverse cultures in America today.”
Macy’s also points out that it features Santa in its parade and plays Christmas music in its stores.
But Zammarano says that such gestures mean little as long as retailers give in to political correctness.