Posted on 12/16/2019 6:14:02 PM PST by Ennis85
The Hallmark Channel certainly wasn’t expecting to find itself at the center of a viral culture war controversy this weekend. But in 2019, corporations never know which move might grab the internet’s attention.
The controversy started when Hallmark decided to cancel an advertisement they had accepted from the wedding planning service Zola. The ad depicted, in a humorous fashion, a lesbian wedding, and at one point, the couple kisses. The conservative group One Million Moms complained to Hallmark and launched a petition, angered that an advertisement on the family-friendly network showed a type of family arrangement not in accordance with their personal religious beliefs.
In a pathetic display, Hallmark caved and pulled that particular ad, although they were happy to run Zola’s other ads that — virtually identical but depicting a heterosexual marriage.
Cue the backlash from the Twitterati. Liberal celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres condemned Hallmark’s cowardice, and their decision earned backlash from major gay and transgender advocacy groups such as the Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD. Democratic presidential contenders got in on the action, too, with South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg hopping in the fray. I myself put out a tweet in anger at the company’s decision. Even Netflix threw shade at Hallmark.
https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow/status/1206009735167672320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1206009735167672320&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fopinion%2Fhallmark-channels-bad-judgement-over-zola-lesbian-wedding-ad-and-million-moms-backlash-puts-them-in-a-pr-nightmare
In a surprising twist, Hallmark walked back its decision. They will now air the advertisement, apologizing and saying, “We are an inclusive company.”
This is where things get complicated.
To be clear, Hallmark was wrong to cancel the advertisement in the first place. It genuinely angered me. The commercial merely depicted a reality, as gay marriage has been legal since 2015. It was in no way sexually explicit, merely depicting a light peck as part of a wedding ceremony. Of course, some viewers might object to same-sex marriage on religious grounds, and that is their right. But they are no more justified in melting down over a commercial featuring a common wedding type they don’t personally agree with than a Muslim group would be in demanding a Christian wedding not be shown on-air.
And if Hallmark themselves were fine with the advertisement all along, as they claim, they never should have bowed to an outrage mob, especially one that all things considered, was pretty small. Despite what their name would suggest, the One Million Moms group actually only had about 30,000 petitioners.
At the same time, the idea that left-wing Twitter bullied Hallmark into walking back their decision is also disturbing. Thousands of people tweeted #BoycottHallmark, and liberal celebrities with a combined following of millions were encouraging their fans to boycott the network.
To some extent, my own immediate reaction included, this is snowflakery. It’s just a commercial, not the end of the world.
Boycotting a company is an extreme act, one that should require more than a single act of bad judgment in commercial selection in justification. Of course, Hallmark put itself in this no-win culture war disaster with its own bad initial judgment. Still, maybe the real lesson here is that we should all calm down, and judge the network on its selection of holiday movies — not how well random commercials echo our personal politics.
It's disgusting and pathetic that Hallmark caved to a mob of trad snowflakes and spiked a perfectly innocuous ad. A slap in the face to gay people everywhere."
Yeah "snowflake" from the same guy crying for a boycott. Yeah taking down the ad was a slap in the face for gay people everywhere but airing it wasn't a slap in the face for the people of all thoses 32 states that voted to maintain the defintion of marriage as man and woman.
And in a lot of those other states its not 90 percent for and 10 percent against like most think
Usually 60/40 or even 55/45.
In an HONEST survey, where people didn’t feel like they had to lie, I’d bet 70 percent would be on our side.
What angers me too is that he has the audacity to describe himself as a conservative.
He writes “they never should have bowed to an outrage mob”, but that’s exactly what they did when they walked back the cancellation of the commercial.
If this Zola company is so “inclusive” why don’t they ever show masculine -looking gay women? They all look straight.
Their inclusiveness only goes so far.
One word”Lifetime”,Just watched Snowed INN Christmas while wrapping presents.
I’d cancel my cable but ESPN and the Kneeler Football League NFL drove me to that long ago. Don’t miss it a bit.
I am now a #BoycottHallmark person because they caved to the left.....Hallmark was a safe channel that did not shove Political correctness done our throat, you could just sit back with your family and enjoy a clean show, not anymore... so bye bye Hallmark
I went to a Zola wedding this past Labor Day. Very well managed affair.
Chik-Fil-A
Choose this day whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)
Really ? Lifetime has gay couples actually IN their movies, which Hallmark hasn’t done ... yet.
So ?
To some people, I believe, Brad Polumbo passes as a conservative. To me, he’s a POS.
I understand Auschwitz was well managed also.
Frankly, most of the Hallmark movies are predictable, poorly written, poorly acted junk.
They should know, the only reason most of us watch them is because Hallmark was always safe viewing for families. Not any more.
If homosexuals would just keep their bedroom priorities out of the public, we wouldn’t have much of an issue. My problem is they are proselytizing their sexual behavior.
The big money is not in the TV channel, but in those cards and high-priced novelties. I suspect that lesbians spend a lot of money buying $4.95 cards for each other.
They didn’t want to offen anybody, and now they have offended EVERYbody.
Lifetime has homosexual couples in some of their Christmas movies. Some of the older Hallmark movies have obvious homosexual characters (sympathetic male friend with fantastic fashion sense, no couples) but had left those characters out for the last few years.
>>In a pathetic display, Hallmark caved and pulled that particular ad
gay newsrooms are a thing and those who are butthurt never fess up to their own special agenda interest
Took Anderson Cooper a long time to come out of his closet. Some other anchors still hide there telling us same sex marriage and transexual military officers are so fabulous.
Even in California where Democrats rule the public voted in support of Prop 8 to define marriage. It was Jerry Brown who stabbed the voters in the back by refusing to defend it at the Supreme Court and those who got it onto the ballot were told that they didn’t have standing to challenge the district court ruling.
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