Graham Cracker Producer Honey Maid Sparks Controversy With 'This Is Wholesome' Ad Campaign Featuring 2 Gay Men as Parents
Graham cracker producer Honey Maid is celebrating a controversial advertisement featuring two gay men as parents in its "This is Wholesome" advertising campaign, which the company says has attracted 10 times more positive comments than negative ones.
The commercial published on YouTube on March 10 has been viewed more than 4 million times as of Friday afternoon and has sparked a barrage of conflicting views between proponents and opponents of homosexuality.
"Today we celebrate all families. From working moms to two moms; stay at home dads to single dads; adopted kids to surrogate kids. Honey Maid recognizes that the reality of family has changed, but the wholesome connections that all families share will endure.#thisiswholesome," noted the company on the video.
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"What does a Graham cracker have to do with homosexuality? There is no point to this commercial what so ever. Does the store make it any sweeter d**n liberal bastards," responded Lori Desko, a self-identified conservative commented in protest.
Her comment attracted a response from a commenter noted as Twitch1872 who told her "welcome to the real world, families like this exist get over it."
Desko, however, did have a point about the relationship between Graham crackers and homosexuality. In fact, the man who invented the product in the 1820s is a Presbyterian minister named Sylvester Graham who promoted Graham crackers as part of a life of temperance, according to biography.com.
"Sylvester Graham was a Presbyterian minister before becoming a leading figure in the temperance movement, advocating lifestyle choices that included eating fresh fruits and vegetables and decreasing sex drive. He called for relying on homemade wheat bread and is believed to have come up with the Graham cracker. He died on September 11, 1851," noted the description of the minister's life.
In a statement following Honey Maid's promotion of the commercial, family values group One Million Moms chided the group for attempting to "normalize sin" and threatened to boycott the company's brand of Graham crackers.
"Nabisco should be ashamed of themselves for their latest Honey Maid and Teddy Graham cracker commercial where they attempt to normalize sin. Right away it shows two men with a baby, followed by other families, and ends with different families pictured including the one with two dads," said the organization.
"This commercial not only promotes homosexuality, but then calls the scene in the advertisement wholesome. The ad states, 'Everyday wholesome snacks for every wholesome family. This is wholesome,'" the group continued.
"One Million Moms stands up for biblical truth, which is very clear in Romans 1:26-27, about this particular type of sexual perversion…this is truly sad. If this is what Honey Maid thinks is wholesome, then my family will no longer purchase Honey Maid or Nabisco products," ended the statement.
The company simply responded with a video showing the number of supporters of the commercial dwarfing the number against it.
"We made a commercial about what makes families, family. And we received a lot of comments. See what we did with them," said the company with a link to the video below.
