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Hallmark Channel pulls ad of lesbian couple kissing after backlash from conservative moms group

The Zola wedding registry company commercial featured two women exchanging their marriage vows and later sharing a kiss to celebrate their love.
UPDATED DEC 15, 2019
The Zola ad features a lesbian couple on their wedding day
The Zola ad features a lesbian couple on their wedding day

Hallmark Channel pulls ads of a lesbian couple kissing after receiving complaints from conservative mom groups that the commercial was against the network's "family-friendly" programming. The channel was facing criticism from several people and groups over an advertisement featuring a lesbian couple on their wedding day. The intense criticism has forced the channel to remove the advertisement. 

The Zola wedding registry company commercial featured two women exchanging marriage vows and later sharing a kiss to celebrate their love. Christian-right One Million Moms group took charge of the situation and criticized Hallmark for airing the ad, and claimed that the commercial was not "family-friendly". Earlier this week, the conservative group started a petition condemning the channel for featuring the "sinful lifestyle" in order to increase the pressure on Hallmark to remove the commercial and other LGBTQ content. 

"Recently, One Million Moms received concerns about Hallmark airing a commercial from Zola.com in which two lesbians are shown kissing at the end of their wedding ceremony," the group had posted on their website. "Parents need to know they could now come face-to-face with the LGBT agenda when they sit down to watch the Hallmark Channel."

And Hallmark didn't do much to resist. 



 

In a statement issued to The New York Times, a spokesperson for the channel said that the public display of affection violated the cable channel's standards. 

"The decision not to air overt public displays of affection in our sponsored advertisements, regardless of the participants, is in line with our current policy, which includes not featuring political advertisements, offensive language, R-rated movie content and many other categories," the spokesperson said. 

This is not the only commercial that Hallmark targeted - the channel also pulled four of Zola's six commercials - interestingly, the other two featured a bride and groom kissing at the altar. 

Hallmark's parent company Crown Media refused to offer any clarity of why the similar ad that featured a heterosexual couple was approved. "The debate surrounding these commercials on all sides was distracting from the purpose of our network, which is to provide entertainment value," Crown Media reiterated. 

At the same time, Zola has stated that the same-sex commercial was about inclusivity and the company - undeterred by Hallmark and the critics - vowed to continue to feature "all kinds" of couples in its advertising. "We stand behind their commercial 150%,"  Zola said in a statement. "We want all couples to feel welcomed and celebrated and we will always feature all kinds of love in our marketing."

"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," Mike Chi, the chief marketing officer of Zola, told the Times. 

The wedding registry company has sworn to never advertise with Hallmark again. 

"Hallmark approved a commercial where a heterosexual couple kissed. All kisses, couples and marriages are equal celebrations of love and we will no longer be advertising on Hallmark."

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