Hallmark has apologized for this ornament.
Hallmark kicked off this year’s holiday season with a bang, which quickly devolved into a cacophony of whimpering. The greeting card company released an adorable Christmas tree ornament in the shape of an ugly Christmas sweater (score!).
But the ornament took a little liberty with a beloved Christmas carol. Instead of the familiar line “don we know our ugly sweaters,” I mean “don we know our gay apparel,” the ornament reads “don we know our fun apparel.”
Nothing wrong with a little modern update, right? Not so fast, says a chorus of Christmas traditionalists, who have taken to the Internets with their complaints.
“To me … ‘gay’ still means happy — joyful — I refuse to let the word [be] hijacked by the same-sex relationship community,” somebody posted on Hallmark’s Facebook page. “I will also avoid Hallmark from this point on.”
Another hater said: “It’s extremely sad to see a company like this one scared to death that they are not politically correct and change the words to Christmas carol. Wow! Time to buy somewhere else. I don’t support fools.”
Yikes.
According to the LA Times, a Hallmark spokesperson responded: “We’ve been surprised at the wide range of reactions expressed about the change of lyrics on this ornament, and we’re sorry to have caused so much concern. We never intend to offend or make political statements with our products, and in hindsight, we realize we shouldn’t have changed the lyrics on the ornament.”
What do you think, should Hallmark have faithfully reprinted the original carol from the 19th century, or should the haters ease up?
