Evangelical Christians are rating retailers naughty or nice. It’s “Merry Christmas,” not “Happy Holidays,” that opens hearts and wallets, according to Christian media giant Focus on the Family, which is in the third year of its own “Stand for Christmas” campaign. Focus says the reason for the season — the birth of Jesus — should be reflected in store displays and found on the lips of sales clerks.

Yet retailers and many shoppers say attempts to include everyone and offend no one might be more in keeping with the spirit — if not the letter — of Christmas.

The Colorado Springs-based organization can’t test the pitch of all retailers everywhere, so this year it asked shoppers across the country to weigh in on the way they perceive retailers’ treatment of Christmas.

The 2009 StandforChristmas.com site, launched Nov. 23, had 125,000 hits by mid-December.

Focus said it is hosting the ratings site because the ministry had noticed in recent years a misguided attempt by retailers to be more inclusive by dropping references to “Christmas” from stores, catalogs and online shopping sites, Focus cultural analyst Carrie Gordon Earll said.

“The vast majority of people who are buying gifts in December are buying Christmas gifts,” Earll said. “We’re not asking retailers to stop saying ‘Happy Hanukkah.’ We’re just saying, don’t exclude Christmas. It’s part of the American fiber.”

In a message to Focus followers Friday afternoon, Earll offered a more aggressive take on the issue: “This is an opportunity for people who love Jesus Christ, who want to celebrate his birth, to have a voice in the culture.”

By the time there were seven shopping days left, consumers reporting to Focus had rated outdoor outfitters Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s the most “Christmas friendly,” with 98 percent and 95 percent positive ratings, respectively.

Other “Christmas friendly” retailers were Land’s End, L.L. Bean, Dillard’s, Nordstrom, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Target and Sears.

“A multicultural country”

However, Mike Gatti, executive director of the National Retail Federation, said he observed that retailers already were making an effort this year not to meld all the holidays into one.

“Retailers are saying, ‘Gee, maybe we don’t need to homogenize the holidays,’ ” Gatti said. “When it’s appropriate, retailers are trying to recognize the different traditions.

“Everybody realizes we’re a multicultural country. What everybody is trying to do is be respectful of everybody’s religion,” he said.

Gatti said he wasn’t familiar with the Focus campaign but welcomed consumer reaction from any quarter.

A 2009 survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, conducted by BIGresearch, found that shoppers’ favorite holiday TV commercials were from Wal-Mart and Target. They also rated well with the evangelicals.

Target tugs at the tender — and hilarious — moments of holiday giving, with “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” as its tag line. Wal-Mart’s Christmas campaign includes images of a son wishing for snow for his father deployed to Iraq.

Focus participants rated as “offensive” clothiers such as the Gap (82 percent), Banana Republic (75 percent) and Old Navy (59 percent).

However, the retailer survey, which polled 9,929 consumers Dec. 1-9, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point, found that Gap and Old Navy television holiday ads scored high with the general shopping population, which ranked them as their fourth- and sixth-favorite commercials, respectively.

The three related companies issued a joint statement defending their seasonal marketing as appropriate for a global retailer respectful of all traditions:

“Contrary to previous reports, . . . our seasonal marketing uses the word Christmas, but we do not use it exclusively.”

Several Gap commercials say: “Go Christmas. Go Hanukkah. Go Kwanzaa.” Old Navy’s mannequin crew exchanges gift ideas in that store’s campaign.

And electronics giant Best Buy, rated “offensive” by 78 percent of Christian shoppers participating on the Focus site, had the country’s third- favorite ad, according to the retailers survey. Best Buy’s ads feature a choir of store employees caroling sales pitches to their customers.

Rated as mostly “Christmas negligent” by Focus participants were stores such as housewares purveyor Crate and Barrel and Toys ‘R’ Us.

Reasons cited for a retailer seeming “offensive” included use of “Happy Holidays” without mention of Christmas. The evidence offered for “Christmas friendly” included things such as Wal-Mart’s sign for “Christmas Trees” rather than holiday trees, as well as the playing of Christmas music.

Focus’ idea is not to boycott retailers but to build good relationships with them, Earll said.

Christmas sales can make or break retailers. With three out of every four Americans identifying themselves as Christians, ignoring Christmas as a religious holiday makes no sense, Earll said. Even the U.S. House of Representatives acknowledges Christmas not as a winter festival but for its “international religious and historical significance,” she said.

At a Target in northwest Denver last week, most shoppers were less ideologically inclined.

“I’m a Christian, but I’m not the kind of Christian who needs to push it on others,” said Doreen Kastner. “My beliefs are my own.”

Another shopper, Michelle Cree, said that she thinks “it’s just nicer and more Christian” to make greetings and decorations as inclusive as possible.

However, Jason Dunn said it bothers him that the word “Christmas” is usually nowhere in sight.

“If you strip Christ from Christmas, what have you got, really?” he asked.

“I say ‘Merry Christmas,’ and I like to be greeted that way,” said Jane Bedin, “but the retailers don’t really have a choice but to play it safe. They need to appeal to a wider part of the population than I need to. It doesn’t bother me.”

Shopping motivations vary

In a more scientific Focus on the Family survey of 1,000 Americans, conducted by Wilson Research Strategies in March, 60 percent of Americans favored the use of “Merry Christmas” over “Happy Holidays.” And 44 percent said they would more likely purchase from a retailer that uses “Merry Christmas” in advertising.

Promoting the holiday by name is just good business, Focus says.

However, the retailers’ survey found that about 17 percent were highly motivated to shop at retailers whose ads they liked.

Still, almost 33 percent said an appealing ad had no impact on shopping habits.

“When it comes to specific holiday advertisements,” the retailer survey said, “coupons are king, with almost 45 percent saying the opportunity to save a few bucks is what most influences them to shop at a particular store.”

Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com