J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) is apologizing.

The department-store chain is airing a television commercial this week -- in time for Mother’s Day -- that says it made mistakes and asks former customers to come back.

Development of the 30-second ad began a few months ago after executives reviewed customer feedback, Joey Thomas, a company spokesman, said in an e-mail. In other words, the ad originated under Ron Johnson, the former chief executive officer who alienated customers by ditching discounts and axing dozens of popular brands in favor of ones aimed at a younger shopper. Myron Ullman replaced him on April 8.

The ad, which has also been posted on the company’s Facebook and YouTube pages, features clips of women trying on clothes and children hugging.

“It’s no secret, recently J.C. Penney changed,” goes the voiceover. “Some changes you liked and some you didn’t, but what matters with mistakes is what we learn.

‘‘We learned a very simple thing -- to listen to you, to hear what you need, to make your life more beautiful. Come back to J.C. Penney. We heard you.’’

After Johnson implemented his makeover, sales fell 25 percent and the chain posted a net loss of $985 million in Johnson’s one full year at the company.

J.C. Penney declined 1.3 percent to $16.20 at the close in New York. The shares have slid 18 percent this year, compared with an 11 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Zuckerberg Apology

There’s a long history of corporate apologies for a multitude of perceived sins -- from Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix Inc. (NFLX), trying to explain a price increase in a web video in 2011 to Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s multiple mea culpas on the social network for changes to privacy settings.

Fewer companies take the step of crafting an ad and then paying to air it on television. One of the most recent examples came when former BP Plc (BP/) CEO Tony Hayward said: ‘‘I’m deeply sorry” in a widely played television spot in 2010 after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Townsend in New York at mtownsend9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net