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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 16 deceMber 2019

Hallmark draws criticism after pulling same-sex wedding ads

By JOCELYN NOVECK ing on Hallmark.”
Associated Press One marketing analyst said
NEW YORK (AP) — The Hall- the family-friendly Hallmark
mark Channel was facing network now finds itself in
some bitter criticism on so- the middle of a PR crisis
cial media Sunday over its that it should have seen
decision to pull ads for a coming.
wedding-planning website “They’ve got trouble on
that featured two brides their hands, and they’ve
kissing at the altar, follow- got to do something fast,”
ing a complaint from a said Paul Argenti, a Dart-
conservative advocacy mouth College professor
group. of corporate communica-
The hashtag #Boycot- tion.
tHallmark was trending at “They should never have
one point on Twitter, and accepted the ads if they
celebrities like Ellen DeGe- weren’t willing to stand up
neres and William Shatner for them. If you didn’t be-
assailed the decision. “Put lieve in gay couples get-
the commercials back!” This image made from undated video provided by Zola shows a scene of its advertisement. ting married, why did you
Shatner wrote. DeGe- Associated Press take the ads in the first
neres asked: “Isn’t it almost place?”
2020?” the ads because the con- them and not continue to ads, and four included a The question Hallmark will
The LGBT advocacy group troversy was a distraction. generate controversy.” lesbian couple. After Hall- now have to answer, he
GLAAD called the decision “The debate surrounding The conservative group mark pulled those ads, said, is: “What are your val-
to remove the ads by Zola these commercials on all One Million Moms, part of but not two featuring only ues? Do you stand for all
“discriminatory and espe- sides was distracting from the American Family Asso- opposite-sex couples, Zola families?’”
cially hypocritical coming the purpose of our net- ciation, had complained pulled its remaining ads, In one of the pulled ads,
from a network that claims work, which is to provide about the ads person- the company said. two brides stand at the
to present family program- entertainment value,” said ally to Bill Abbott, CEO of “The only difference be- altar and wonder aloud
ming and and also recent- a statement provided to Crown Media Family Net- tween the commercials whether their wedding
ly stated they are ‘open’ The Associated Press by works, Hallmark’s parent that were flagged and the would be going more
to LGBTQ holiday movies.” Molly Biwer, senior vice company. ones that were approved smoothly if they had used
The group said it would be president for public affairs A post on the group’s web- was that the commercials a wedding planning site
asking other Hallmark ad- and communications at site said that Abbott “re- that did not meet Hall- like Zola. The lighthearted
vertisers where they stand Hallmark. ported the advertisement mark’s standards included ad ends with the just-mar-
on the issue, and if they In an interview, she added: aired in error.” a lesbian couple kissing,” ried couple sharing a quick
now will pull their advertis- “The Hallmark brand is nev- The group also wrote: “The said Mike Chi, Zola’s chief kiss.
ing. Zola has said it won’t er going to be divisive. We call to our office gave us marketing officer, in a Actress Sandra Bernhard,
advertise on the channel. don’t want to generate the opportunity to confirm statement sent to the AP. who played one of the first
Hallmark, which is in the controversy, we’ve tried the Hallmark Channel will “All kisses, couples and openly bisexual characters
midst of its heavily watched very hard to stay out of it ... continue to be a safe and marriages are equal cel- on network TV in “Rose-
holiday programming, said we just felt it was in the best family-friendly network.” ebrations of love and we anne,” also criticized Hall-
Saturday it had removed interest of the brand to pull Zola had submitted six will no longer be advertis- mark’s decision.q

Jeff Lindsay has entertaining new thriller

By BRUCE DESILVA creepy sensibility of the hit He craves a caper that is hind. Now, the agent has
Associated Press TV show “Dexter.” The lat- “beyond impossible, some- decided that the only way
“Just Watch Me,” Dutton, ter is no surprise since the thing ridiculous, unthink- to catch Wolfe is to un-
by Jeff Lindsay show was inspired by Lind- able.” cover his weakness — one
Riley Wolfe gets his kicks say’s eight novels featur- He finds it when the gov- that must have its roots in
executing spectacular ing Dexter Morgan, a se- ernment in Tehran, hoping Wolfe’s upbringing.
robberies that no one else rial killer who preyed only to thaw its relations with So Delgado crisscrosses
would even contemplate. upon other serial killers. Un- the United States, lends the eastern half of the
His victims are always the like Dexter, Wolfe takes no the Iranian crown jewels to United States, digging into
super-rich, whom he de- pleasure in murder, but he a New York City museum. Wolfe’s long-buried family
spises as “smug, do-noth- displays no qualms about There, the multi-billion-dol- history. Readers who know
ing, self-loving leeches.” dispassionately dispatch- lar treasure is guarded by how caper stories usually
This anti-hero makes his ing anyone who gets in his the latest in high-tech se- work will have little doubt
debut in “Just Watch Me,” way. curity systems and by both who is going to win this This cover image released
by Dutton shows “Just Watch
a supremely entertaining The opening of the story American-trained merce- cat-and-mouse game, but Me,” by Jeff Lindsay.
new thriller by Jeff Lindsay finds Wolfe taking no sat- naries and a “trigger-hap- the agent’s fine detective Associated Press
that promises to be the isfaction from his spec- py” contingent of Iranian work succeeds in unearth-
first of a series. tacular heist of a 12-ton Revolutionary Guards. ing the influences that ration of the psychology
The plot combines the sculpture, swiped in broad Meanwhile, Wolfe is being turned Wolfe into the man of a master criminal. The
intricacies of caper mov- daylight at its dedication tracked by Frank Delgado, he has become. writing is tight and vivid,
ies such as “The Thomas ceremony. For him, the a clever FBI agent who has “Just Watch Me,” then, is the characters are con-
Crown Affair” and “To spectacular has become been after him for years, both an exciting crime sto- vincingly portrayed and
Catch a Thief” with the ordinary, and it bores him. always a step or two be- ry and a revealing explo- the action is nonstop.q