Are you "Naughty or Nice" this year? It depends on what you say...

When I think of the phrase "naughty or nice", I picture an idyllic scene of a jolly fat man in a bright red suit (with or without the jacket - but when without, having bright red suspenders, too) perusing a long scrolling list of names and laughing heartily to himself as the snow flies lightly outside the window.  I picture the "nice" kids as polite, well-rounded and eager to please, while the "naughty" kids are pulling obnoxious pranks, cursing everything in sight and dressed like a Goth nightmare.

Of course, that's just in my imagination, and I know that all kids have a bit of "naughty" and a dash of "nice", and often you can't figure out which side of the equation the kid falls into. But have you ever heard of labelling a corporation "naughty"?  About the only ones that I could think of would be like Halliburton, Enron and BP, whose offenses against humanity and the world are legendary.  But according to the American Family Association, all it takes for a company to be "naughty" is to not say "Christmas".  That's right.  They can have all the holiday decorations, reindeer-pulled sleighs, nativity scenes and betwinkling lights covering the entire store, but if they don't mention the word "Christmas" in their advertisments, they're waging "War on Christmas".

You can see the list of companies that the AFA has rated here, in three festive colors (Green, Red and Yellow).  It also lists the criteria for making each of the three lists, and how a company can protest which list it's on (they've got to provide written documentation of their inclusion of the word "Christmas" to the AFA).

So, who's on the "naughty" list so far? 

Barnes & Noble
CVS Pharmacy
Dick's Sporting Goods
Office Depot
Radio Shack
Staples
SUPERVALU
Victoria's Secret

Of all those, the only one I'd consider placing on a "naughty" list is the last one, and in that case I actually think being "naughty" should be considered a bonus.