Hallmark Puts Lesbian Ads Back on the Air, Much to the Dismay of One Million Moms
Conservative group One Million Moms threw a tantrum when they realized Hallmark Channel was airing an ad featuring a same-sex couple. Hallmark then removed the ad from their network, and dug themselves into a deep homophobic hole. Here, we explain the Hallmark commercial controversy and their subsequent move to reverse the decision.
Dec. 16 2019, Updated 4:50 p.m. ET
The most absurd activist group of all time, One Million Moms, is at it again with their anti-lesbian agenda, which some of you might remember from the Toy Story 4 boycott.
Back when the Pixar film was released, the group, whose plea is to "fight against indecency" threw an absolute tantrum. Why? Because of a millisecond-long scene that showed a pair of moms dropping off their child at school (seriously, they are blurry) in the background.
Anyway, One Million Moms are back in full force this holiday season, as they recently pressured the famously-straight Hallmark Channel into ceasing to air a wedding registry ad on their network. In a twist, Hallmark actually reversed their decision, much to the dismay of One Million Moms.
It's convoluted, but we have the time. Stay with us while we unpack and explain the Hallmark commercial controversy.
The Hallmark commercial controversy, explained.
On December 2, Zola.com started airing six television spots on Hallmark, all of which center around a couple at the altar unanimously agreeing that their wedding preparations were all made better by the registry and wedding-planning website, Zola.
To conclude the commercial, the couples — both the lesbians couple and the hetero couple — share a kiss at the altar. However, the same-sex couples' four commercials were all pulled from the Hallmark Channel, while the ones featuring a heterosexual couple was not.
Patting themselves on the back for this homophobic feat are One Million Moms, who received over 31,000 signatures in their petition to have those LGBTQ ads removed. "The Hallmark Channel has always been known for its family-friendly movies," their campaign reads. "Even its commercials are usually safe for family viewing. But unfortunately, that is not the case anymore."
On December 12, Hallmark succumbed to the pressure of One Million Moms and pulled precisely the four out of six commercials that featured the lesbian couple. Hallmark tried to keep their rationale vague, telling the New York Times that the women's "public displays of affection" violated their policies — despite the fact that the straight couple engaged in the same PDA as the lesbians.
In an email to Zola representatives, they went even vaguer: "We are not allowed to accept creatives that are deemed controversial," the channel wrote.
By the weekend, many had caught on to the blatant homophobia.
Once Twitter got wind of Hallmark's blatant homophobia, they began sounding off on their own. By midday Sunday, #boycotthallmark and #homophobichallmark were trending all over the site.
"Isn't it almost 2020? @hallmarkchannel, @billabbottHC... what are you thinking?" tweeted Ellen DeGeneres. "Please explain. We're all ears." Out gay presidential candidate and Indiana major Pete Buttigieg tweeted that "families are built on love — no matter what they look like" and called for a stop at Hallmark "censoring difference."
Later that day, the Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD got involved, and the groups got double the numbers of One Million Moms' petition in their call against Hallmark's decision to drop the commercials. Cutting the ads is "discriminatory and especially hypocritical coming from a network that claims to present family programming and also recently stated they are 'open' to LGBTQ holiday movies," GLAAD tweeted.
By the evening, Hallmark was done being in the middle of the controversy and opted to reinstate their same-sex commercials. The Crown Media team, the parent company of Hallmark, released the following statement on Sunday: "The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we've seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused."
"Hallmark will be working with GLAAD to better represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands," read the statement. "The Hallmark Channel will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials."
To One Million Moms, this decision means that Hallmark "can no longer be trusted," but we don't doubt they'll find another brand to call out very soon.
