There are times that something starts bothering me and just won't go away......well, this is one of those times so today I became part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
I sent the following email to Hallmark today and then followed with copying and sending it to local TV stations asking them to either pull the ad or request that Hallmark modify it:
I have seen your Valentine television advertisement several times and become more and more troubled by it with each viewing. I am among the few who are less affected by the day to day problems presented by our country's troubled economy. I know I personally am blessed so for others, today, I am writing to you. I own a business and I see my clients who are suffering, suffering terribly. My auto repairman is calling customers to ask if there is any work he can do for them, my neighbor who is an engineer just lost his job yesterday, movie theaters and restaurants are virtually empty, some of my clients have taken pay cuts just to retain their jobs, most my clients who own business have 20% to 50% declines in business volume. We have all suffered severe losses in our investments. I find the Hannah Montana Valentine card ad terribly inappropriate for this economy. I have no problem with you selling the card but you are degrading the loving, caring parent who put an apple with heart stickers in her daughter's lunch and the parent who shaped her daughter's sandwich in the form of a heart and instead implying that only if a family buys a Hannah Montana Valentine card will the recipient be "COOL". You are belittling the poor families who can't afford your $5 card. You are saying, spend this $5 on our card instead of on food for your family so your child will feel "COOL". These families, who you are insulting are doing their very best to maintain day-to-day existence and you have the audacity to imply that they are not as good as your family who has the money to buy your Hannah Montana card. You should be ashamed! Advertise, fine, spend your advertising dollars promoting the Hannah Montana card but DON'T do it at the expense of poor families who can do no better than an apple or sandwich. Keep in mind that a lot of thought, love and creativity goes into the apple and sandwich idea! Does your card offer that? Your tactics have offended me. I am one who can afford and have shopped your stores often but I will question my return to your stores. This is a time we must ALL pull together, support each other emotionally and reach out to those who are struggling due to no cause by them. Please pull this ad and substitute it instead with one that does not ATTACK the unfortunate circumstances people may be facing.
To Kinder and beyond!
12 years ago
3 comments:
Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog. Just after I read it, I discovered an e-mail from Hallmark in my inbox. Did you receive one, too? Evidentally, they are pulling the ad off the air! Hurrah!
It's great that those of us who were offended spoke out.
I have not received a response from Hallmark. Maybe one will still arrive. I saw the discussion too on commercialsihate. I have not seen the ad today on the TV although a different Hallmark card ad did run. Hopefully the Hannah Montana ad has already been pulled. Thanks for speaking up. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only creature on earth bothered by things like this.
Today, February 18th (12 days after my email to Hallmark), I received the following response (I post a copy so you can determine your own feelings about their response):
Discussion Thread
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Response (Support Agent) - 02/18/2009 12:06 PM
Thank you for contacting Hallmark about one of our Valentine’s Day commercials.
When creating this commercial we wanted to show that love can be expressed in a number of creative, economical and heartfelt ways, including Mom’s voice in a valentine.
As is our normal practice, our marketing team tested this commercial before it aired among consumers, including mothers. These consumers responded favorably, so we appreciate hearing a different point of view.
With this new perspective from you and others we decided to stop airing the advertisement on February 6th, at which time began contacting the multiple media outlets that were scheduled to broadcast that advertisement.
Hallmark is about helping people connect. We are continually learning about the intricacies of these connections, and your perspective will help us to look at this differently in the future.
Thanks,
Hallmark Consumer Care
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