Hallmark Pulls Same-Sex Couple Ad: Viewers Boycott Channel

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The Hallmark Channel is in the midst of their famous Christmas movie season, prompting many viewers to tune-in. It did not sit well with viewers when the channel decided to pull a wedding planning ad from the company Zola, featuring a lesbian couple.

A spokesperson from Zola reported to Buzzfeed that the company will stop doing advertisements entirely with Hallmark. “The only difference between the commercials that were flagged and the ones that were approved was that the commercials that did not meet Hallmark’s standards included a lesbian couple kissing,” said Mike Chi, Zola’s chief marketing officer.

The conservative group, One Million Moms, saw this ad, causing some hateful reactions. The group posted on their website that they received many complaints about viewing this ad on the Hallmark Channel. It did not sit well with them when they suddenly saw two women kissing.

The group wrote, “The Hallmark Channel has always been known for its family-friendly movies. Even its commercials are usually safe for family viewing. But unfortunately, that is not the case anymore.”

This led the group to start a petition to have the ad pulled from Hallmark. Buzzfeed states, “According to the post, the group “personally spoke to” the CEO of Crown Media Family Networks, Bill Abbott, who told One Million Moms they would be pulling the commercial.”

The group wrote, “He reported the advertisement aired in error, but he was informed about it after hearing from concerned 1MM supporters. Way to go!”

Zola’s spokesperson reported that the company submitted six commercials to the Hallmark channel, four of them featuring same-sex couples. Those four were rejected.

According to the AP, a spokesperson from Hallmark commented on why these ads were pulled, “The debate surrounding these commercials on all sides was distracting from the purpose of our network, which is to provide entertainment value. The Hallmark brand is never going to be divisive. We don’t want to generate controversy, we’ve tried very hard to stay out of it … we just felt it was in the best interest of the brand to pull them and not continue to generate controversy.” Molly Biwer, senior vice president for public affairs and communications at Hallmark, said in a statement to AP.

This exchange between Zola and Hallmark elicited many responses from Twitter and grabbed the attention of a few celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, and other networks like Netflix:

The news of Hallmark pulling this ad has Twitter outraged. #BoycottHallmark is now spreading throughout the social media platform.

 

It seems that those cheesy Christmas movies won’t be enough for Hallmark to keep its viewers. Yikes.

See Kristen Bell’s Head-Turning Christmas Gift Here
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