Hallmark’s flipflop on same-sex ads backfires

NEW YORK — The Hallmark Channel’s decision to pull, then reinstate a commercial that featured a same-sex couple kissing shows how controversy can generate more publicity than simply ignoring it.

The debacle ultimately made a winner out of Zola, the wedding-planning website whose ads a conservative advocacy group didn’t want shown on Hallmark.

In one of the pulled ads, two brides stand at the altar and wonder aloud whether their wedding would be going more smoothly if they had used a weddingplanning site like Zola. The lighthearted ad ends with the two brides sharing a quick kiss on the altar.

In an interview over the weekend, Hallmark spokeswoman Molly Biwer said the company felt “it was in the best interest of the brand to pull them and not continue to generate controversy.”

Instead, Hallmark faced criticism on Twitter from celebrities, including Ellen DeGeneres and William Shatner. “Isn’t it almost 2020? What are you thinking?” DeGeneres tweeted.

By Sunday, Hallmark had reversed its decision. In a statement, Hallmark Cards CEO Mike Perry said Crown Media was “agonizing” over the decision. “Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision,” he said.

That, in turn, prompted calls for a boycott of the Hallmark Channel by the group that made the original complaint, One Million Moms. It accused Hallmark of caving to the LGBTQ community and portrayed the reversal as a betrayal to conservatives.

The group behind the latest complaint, One Million Moms, is an offshoot of the conservative American Family Association. It has tried to implement many boycotts, including one in 2008 targeting Hallmark Cards when it started selling same-sex wedding cards. It has also tried to start boycotts against Target, “Toy Story 4” and other entities it deems to be LGBTQ friendly.