Hallmark was hit by a wave of backlash after the greeting card company cut the word "gay" from the lyrics of "Deck the Halls" on one of its 2013 holiday ornaments.
"Don we now our gay apparel," the original verse of the carol that dates back to sixteenth century Wales goes. But Hallmark's version switched out the word "gay" for the word "fun" on a Christmas ornament that resembles an ugly Christmas sweater, My Fox Phoenix reported.
Customers were insulted by the company's decision to nix the offending word, and took to the Hallmark Facebook page to voice their opinions.
"Seriously, you changed the Victorian traditional wording of a Christmas carol because...?" User Vicki Cox posted on Hallmark's page. "That was a bad decision. Downright stupid. I don't think I need to shop @ Hallmark anymore."
"Hallmark is insinuating that gay people dress differently than everyone else," another user posted. "If I were gay, I would be more upset with that."
One woman who said she was a Gold Crown Rewards member on Facebook wrote that the company was making a needless political statement by augmenting the lyrics.
According to My Fox Phoenix, the company described the ornament designed by artist Matt Johnson as one that will "make your tree's outfit complete."
"With its catchy phrase, Don we now our FUN apparel! everyone will be in on the joke," a description on the Hallmark website read.
The company released a statement shortly after the public's largely adverse reaction to the lyrics.
"Today it has multiple meanings, which we thought could leave our intent open to misinterpretation," the statement read. "The trend of wearing festively decorated Christmas sweaters to parties is all about fun, and this ornament is intended to play into that, so the planning team decided to say what we meant: 'fun.' That's the spirit we intended and the spirit in which we hope ornament buyers will take it."
