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Frankly, I think they should. Same goes for the Muslims that get in rut over Allah jokes. People should take a joke for what it is: a joke. Less war, more humor! I'd prefer good quality humor, but bad humor is still better than no humor at all.
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I don't think any topic is beyond humor, but I don't think you can pick and choose some things as acceptable and not others. You might find holocaust jokes ok, but I bet you most wouldn't, and posting them here could maybe even lead to banning (don't quote me on this, maybe not). But take the above ad and flip it around. When I was younger, we had one of those invisible electric fences for our dog to keep her on our property. She would wear a collar around her neck that gave her a little zap when she got near the fence. It worked great. Imagine the above commercial, where a guy makes her wife wear one of these collars because she isn't performing certain "wifely duties" up to satisfaction. She's burning his dinner, interrupts him while watching the game, or "isn't in the mood" for sex enough, or whatever. The ad says at the end "women, keep your man happy this x-mas. Spend an extra hour cooking or cleaning, give him an extra blow job. Just a little extra effort might keep you away from the collar!"
Can you imagine the outrage such an ad would provoke? I don't think even the most sexist beer ads get anywhere near this (correct me if I'm wrong). And deep down, how is it all that different from the JCPenny ad? If it's just about the commercials themselves and their (lousy) humor, neither would bother me. What bothers me is that one ad is considered acceptable and one isn't. When I point out that I find this bothersome, I'm told to "lighten up". Like "d00d, chill out and smoke a doobie, stop taking life so seriously!". I guess if that works for others fine but to me it sounds like a mega-lame existence, not to mention a cop out to avoid dealing with problems. It's aggravating when people try to force their "lighten up" attitude on the rest of the world, as if it's so superior.
It also makes me wonder if Jews in pre-ww2 Germany or blacks in 19th century America weren't also told to "lighten up" when they got offended at something "petty". If you think this is an extreme example, I consider dehumanization (which the JCPenney ad does to men and women) an extreme thing.
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Seriously, how is your being deeply offended by this helping your cause? Is your anger about media stereotyping improving your life? Or that of others? Are you taking direct action to change the behavior of the media? If not, why carry around this anger like dead weight?
Personally, I'd rather focus my energy on something more useful than a bad joke.
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I think anger gets a bad rap. For some people it's a reasonable response. If you are under attack, you need it to defend yourself. Anger helps you recognize attacks and fuels your defense. Is it the ideal thing to carry around like "dead weight"? I don't like to think of it in those terms because one can always see ways their situation could be better, internally or externally. I'd rather focus on what is rather than what could be. I'm not really "unhappy" per se with my life, but I think I would be though without my anger. Thus I see it as useful and not "dead weight", and I believe it drives me towards my purpose, thus helping my "cause". People might hear that and gasp, and talk about how miserable I must be, but sometimes wonder if they aren't merely projecting their own repressed anger and unhappiness, while hiding in a veneer of laughter.