Trying to be 'Politically Correct' backfires on Hallmark

Hallmark Faces Backlash For Changing Lyric From ‘Gay’ To ‘Fun’ In ‘Deck The Halls’

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CBS St. Louis/AP) — Greeting card giant Hallmark said Thursday that it shouldn’t have changed the lyrics to “Deck the Halls” on a new holiday ornament that stirred a backlash from customers online.

The Kansas City, Mo.-based company has been defending itself after it began selling a miniaturized version of a tacky holiday sweater that changes the lyrics to the holiday carol. The ornament removes the word “gay” and emblazons the sweater with the phrase: “Don we now our FUN apparel!”

"Critics took to Twitter and Hallmark’s Facebook page, accusing the company of making a political statement by using the word “fun” to replace “gay.” Some Facebook commenters said they would never again buy Hallmark merchandise and that the change amounted to the company rewriting Christmas classics in the name of political correctness. Others suggested removing the word “gay” demonstrated a homophobic bias.

As long as that song has been around, and now Hallmark is scared and worried of a 3 letter word.

Gay has other meanings other than homosexual -- [Noun]
It means to be jolly, cheerful, happy, jovial to name a few --[Adjective]
I'm sure some have heard the expression "We had a gay old time" meaning we had fun.



For those that may not be familiar with the song, here is a little background on it:

The music to Deck the Halls is believed to Welsh in origin and was reputed to have come from a tune called "Nos Galan" dating back to the sixteenth century. In the eighteenth century Mozart used the tune to Deck the Halls for a violin and piano duet J.P. McCaskey is sometimes credited with the lyrics of Deck the Halls but he only edited the Franklin Square Song Collection in which the lyrics were first published. The first publication date of Deck the Halls is 1881. The author is unknown but the words are said to originate in America.

And here are the lyrics:

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Don we now our gay apparel,
Fa la la, la la la, la la la.
Troll the ancient Yule tide carol,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

See the blazing Yule before us,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Strike the harp and join the chorus.
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Follow me in merry measure,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
While I tell of Yule tide treasure,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Fast away the old year passes,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Sing we joyous, all together,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Heedless of the wind and weather,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Deck The Halls



For the first time in our history, Americans have to be fearful of what they say, of what they write, and of what they think. They have to be afraid of using the wrong word, a word denounced as offensive or insensitive, or racist, sexist, or homophobic.

It's a sad time when we can no longer be ourselves.

This action of changing the words should receive backlash, of all the ridiculous things. I agree that language evolves, certainly we don't speak Shakespeare's English anymore, but could we not bend over backward to please whoever?

I don't think I have ever met a gay person who didn't say they were gay so I am not sure how the word is supposed to be offensive. Is the apparel supposed to be offended? Are the gays supposed to be offended? I think the only people who were offended were Hallmark.

The PC drivel has gotten way out of hand. We are all responsible for our own "offendedness" (I made it up) which means nobody else can offend us if we don't want them to.

We all need to cross over anger bridge and sit a while on friendship shore...

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


I dunno who is offended.
I do know that this is free advertisement for hallmark just before xmas.
And who is the majority of folks who full on celebrate and will likely buy cheap Chinese made trinkets from hallmark, yep the gay bashing brainwashed Christians.
I see what they did there.

reply to post by g146541


So this is a "Well played Hallmark... Well played" ? You know what? I didn't even think about that but you could very well be right. It was all over the news this morning and they were all laughing about how stupid it was. Yep. I do believe you may be onto something.

snarky412


For the first time in our history, Americans have to be fearful of what they say, of what they write, and of what they think. They have to be afraid of using the wrong word, a word denounced as offensive or insensitive, or racist, sexist, or homophobic.

It's a sad time when we can no longer be ourselves.

edit on 2-11-2013 by snarky412 because: (no reason given)

No we don't.

You don't have to be anything, and neither do I.

We have only ourselves to blame for falling for this crap.

I do and say whatever I feel (in person or on social media) and if it offends someone too bad. I am very happy with who I am and crybaby PC-brigade idiots can piss off.

reply to post by snarky412


they are dammed , what ever they do

print " gay " and group `A` manufactures ` offence `

print " fun " and group `B` manufactures ` offence `

delete the carol [ in any version ] from their product range - and guess what group "C" will do ?

Sounds like an over reaction from people who have nothing better to do.

And yeah some kids prolly ask why people are dressing up as gay people in a christmas song. Gay may have two meanings, but in our society its used to define homosexuals far more often than to describe joy. Times change things i guess, like with the meaning and use of the word fag.

reply to post by snarky412


When I was little, we all sang the 10 little Indian's song... by the time my children were born... it was changed to the little native American song.

Once upon a time... as a child, we chose teams with a rhyme involving a N***R and a Toe.. and I personally witnessed the change of "political correctness" when a few friends started to change the N word to Tiger.

In a way I get why the Natives and other cultures are offended... but it was our ancestors who brought them here (Only applies if you live in the USA in my case) or took over by force someone else's land and way of life.

What I don't get is why some are still offended and are holding a grudge in his day and age..
have you ever watched an Indian /Native American (to stay politically correct) on a basketball court? I have.... and they should be proud of their heritage. But should not be offended by a team named years ago by someone who identified with their heritage to be fierce and strong enough to be given a name that will live on... Has the Native culture ever considered the fact "Redskins" might have been out of respect of their fierce drive and athletic ability?

Or all you all just a bunch of offended "politically correct" robots.

BTW... I am as white as the un driven snow.... so race is not an issue for me.

Hallmark is gay, you can go by a dollar store card for a buck

How ignorant. What's next changing the Flintstones theme song?



It's difficult being a tolerant person when you can't tolerate intolerant people.

reply to post by Thalestris


Yeah. Somebody better get outraged about that too.
And before anybody asks, the answer is Betty.

reply to post by snarky412

Then the person at Hallmark who approved this is a donkey.Even gay people refer to themselves as gay,there can be no possible offence.Especially not in the context of the carol,where everyone with more than 2 braincells Know its an oldfashioned way of saying jolly of fun.
Also I always feel,if you go out of your way this noticably and ludicrously,if you go completely overboard to accomodate any minority,they Notice-because again you have made them Feel "different" -and that defeats the whole purpose ffs!Who ever thought up this pc-correct bs was the worst idiot this world has ever spawned

reply to post by ignorant_ape

It's worse than that.
In this case, both A and B were offended by the same change, because critics could not make up their minds whether the change was pro- or anti- homosexual.
To be fair, they had commercial reasons for thinking that keeping the original wording would affect sales adversely.
They would have been better off avoiding the slogan altogether.

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


Just asked myself one simple question, "Who benefits"?
Or spoken in the Latin, "sonny bono" err something or the other.

reply to post by snarky412


You know what I just realized I have no idea how the word gay came to represent the gay community, the rainbow either.

reply to post by snarky412


I don't know what to say....except...

"Fa la la la la, la la la la...."



PC run amok...

reply to post by snarky412


It's the lyric of an old song, for Christ's sake (a nod to Christmas there). Some not-so-smart yuppies at Hallmark made a mistake and will likely pay for it somehow, at a minimum in terms of career advancement.