Posted by
TheChair on Friday, August 22, 2008 11:37:52 AM
Hallmark Greeting Cards has just pulled a McDonald's by starting to cater the same-sex marriage crowd.
The nation's largest greeting card company is rolling out same-sex wedding cards — featuring two tuxedos, overlapping hearts or intertwined flowers, with best wishes inside. "Two hearts. One promise," one says.
Why on earth?
"It's our goal to be as relevant as possible to as many people as we can," Hallmark spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg Kolell said.
Huh? What to they mean by relevant?
The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates that more than 85,000 same-sex couples in the United States have entered into a legal relationship since 1997, when Hawaii started offering some legal benefits to same-sex partners.
It estimates nearly 120,000 more couples will marry in California during the next three years — and that means millions of potential dollars for all sorts of wedding-industry businesses.
Ok, now I understand. One can only hope the Hallmark Channel does not also seek to be "relevant." Meanwhile,
Hallmark's largest competitor, American Greetings Corp., has no plans to enter the [same sex marriage] market, saying its current offerings are general enough to speak to a lot of different relationships.
Good enough for me. Buy American.