An anti-LGBTQ hate group is demanding that Ritz Crackers withdraw a pro-LGBTQ holiday commercial or else face a boycott.
The American Family Association, which has a long history of anti-LGBTQ actions and has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has taken issue with Ritz’s “Where There’s Love, There’s Family” ad.
Launched last month, the company collaborated with the “It Gets Better” project on the ad, which asks people to rethink their definitions of family and features an LGBTQ couple heading to a family gathering, one of whom is gender non-conforming, The Advocate reports.
“At Ritz, we believe everyone should feel like they belong,” the company said on its website. “That’s why this holiday, we’re encouraging people to rethink what it means to be family.”
But encouraging love and acceptance during the holidays was apparently too much for the bigots at the American Family Association.
The AFA has released a petition demanding that Ritz “drop the commercial and its agenda to redefine family, gender, and sexuality.”
It also urges the cracker manufacturer to learn more about “God’s design for gender and sexuality, and how those struggling with transgenderism can find help through American Family Associations latest documentary.”
It might be worth giving the “documentary” a miss, given the petition advocates against embracing a person’s gender identity, calling it a “dangerous and unhealthy lifestyle.”
And should Ritz ignore AFA’s demands and keep supporting LGBTQ people? Well, Christians will apparently be forced to buy another brand of crackers.
“Supporting the transgender agenda instead of remaining neutral in the cultural war is just bad business,” AFA rants in the petition. “If RITZ Crackers refuses to remain neutral, then Christians will vote with their pocketbooks and support companies that do.”
As of writing, the petition has an alleged 47,960 backers.
AFA is no stranger to breathless petitions and threats of boycotts. An offshoot of the group, One Million Moms, has gained notoriety for issuing boycott threats against a number of companies and products for showing LGBTQ support.
Those boycotts include, but aren’t limited to, Oreo cookies, a children’s cartoon, a superhero movie, Whole Foods, Toy Story 4, and yoghurt.
Related:
One Million Moms demands Oreo boycott over ‘homosexual agenda’ rainbow cookies
Anti-gay American Family Association isn’t happy about Walmart’s “pro-homosexual” commercial
One Million Moms fumes about gay dads on ‘DuckTales,’ demands boycott
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