Jeweler Zales’ Valentine’s Day ad this year includes the same two-bride couple who premiered in their winter holiday ad last November and sparked the ire of right-wing group One Million Moms. Clearly, that hasn’t slowed the company down.
The shots of the women in the Valentine’s Day ad are the same ones the company used in ads released November 9 and December 14, all of which feature a variety of couples. When Zales released the first ad, One Million Moms launched a campaign saying the company was “glorifying sin” (http://onemillionmoms.com/current-campaigns/zales-attempts-to-normalize-sin/). One Million Moms is part of the American Family Association, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Zales then not only kept the couple in the second ad, but made their image the static image that appears before someone plays the online version of the ad. They featured the couple again for Valentine’s Day, and again used their image as the default image for the video.
Among other products, Zales offers the Love and Pride collection from designer Udi Behr, created for the LGBTQ community. A portion of every Love and Pride sale goes to LGBTQ organizations like The Matthew Shepard Foundation, Marriage Equality USA, and the Human Rights Campaign—to date, over $500,000 in total. After One Million Moms’ initial attack, Behr said in a statement, “For me, jewelry is and always will be meant as a way to commemorate beautiful moments in our lives and a way to express love and affection. The response by One Million Moms is hateful and divisive. Now, more than ever, we must work for a world that has less division and more love, respects diversity and allows all people to express their love for each other.”