More Americans Offended by ‘Happy Holidays’ than ‘Merry Christmas’
As the holiday battle of saying "Merry Christmas" to consumers rages on, a new poll found that the Christmas greeting does not offend the majority of Americans.
According to a poll by Zogby International, 95 percent of Americans said they were not offended by a "Merry Christmas" greeting in stores.
With each consumer ready to spend nearly $800 this Christmas season, retailers are trying to welcome lines of customers in with the proper holiday greeting.
After curtailing the Christmas greeting last year, Wal-Mart has resurrected its Christmas pitch, giving employees the OK to say "Merry Christmas" to shoppers this holiday season.
"Last year's decision by many retailers – including retail giant Wal-Mart – to curtail the use of 'Merry Christmas' for fear of offending those who don't celebrate the holiday caused a backlash from conservative Christian groups as well as consumers," Zogby said in a statement, according to Reuters.
In fact, the new poll indicated that 32 percent of respondents said they took offense at "Happy Holidays."
Time magazine had reported in an October 2006 issue that more than 85 percent of Americans follow a Christian faith.
Still, other popular stores have decided not to use the Christmas greeting.
Gap, which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime, has adorned its stores with the word "holiday."
The American Family Association, a conservative group that supports traditional family values, said it did not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term "Christmas."
"We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores, but the word 'Christmas' is not used here," one Old Navy store manager told AFA. "Everything is 'holiday.'"
The conservative family group is calling for action, urging Americans to send a message of disappointment to Gap, Inc.
"Gap doesn't want to offend non-Christians by using Christmas. The fact that their censoring the use of Christmas might offend Christians seems to be of no importance," said the AFA in a statement.
The Zogby Interactive poll surveyed 12,806 adults Nov. 21-29.
