JCPenney raised some eyebrows and a few hackles last month when its May online and print flier featured a real-life lesbian couple among various real moms, partners and kids for Mother’s Day.

Now the corporation is giving some equal time to gay men ahead of Father's Day by featuring two real-life dads/partners with their two kids in the retailer's June book. And once again, One Million Moms is up in arms at the same-sex parenting image and urging their followers to boycott JCP stores.

Fearless marketing, alas, hasn't helped the retailer (so far) post better results. JCP, despite refreshing its brand and pricing strategy with a bold new vision in January, lost $163 million and sales went down 20% in the first quarter of 2012.

"Our first 90 days are a little tougher than we expected," CEO Ron Johnson recently told analysts and investors, Ad Age reports. "But the good news is the transformation, from my perspective, is way ahead of schedule. ... We're trying to essentially convert the Titanic into 1,100 WaveRunners."

Making history this week, President Obama finally declared his support of same-sex marriage, the first such declaration by a U.S. president. Now it's time for brands to step up and get over any aversion to showing same-sex couples in their campaigns.

Case in point: Gap’s new billboard featuring a real-life same-sex couple — Tony nominee Rory O'Malley and his boyfriend Gerold Schroeder — helps bridges the gap a little bit more between mainstream advertising and homophobic prejudice.

Featured prominently on a Los Angeles corner, the ad is part of Gap’s "Be Bright" campaign and the handsome couple are certainly a significant step in the brand’s efforts to reinvigorate lackluster sales and enlarge its customer embrace.

JCPenney, under its new "Fair and Square" tagline, continues to fight the good fight, too, facing down conservative pressure groups like One Million Moms by choosing openly gay Ellen DeGeneres as a spokesperson and recently featuring a lesbian couple and their daughter on their Mother's Day catalog.Continue reading...