Remember Monica Cole? She’s the One Meddling Mom who, working under the false pretense of the American Family Association’s One Million Moms project, goes after some companies for so much as having a pro-LGBTQ thought. As more and more brands include LGBTQ people, there appears to be no rhyme or reason to which brand her project of the AFA targets. And she never wins. Even among paper tigers, her roar is particularly thin.
You might recall Monica’s most high profile failure, which happened just this past December. That is when she went after The Hallmark Channel, who at first ceded to demands to pull an ad featuring a lesbian couple from airwaves, but then realized and apologized for its error once GLAAD and others stepped in. We pointed out the truths about both the ad and Monica’s anti-LGBTQ organization. The Hallmark Channel’s reversal was a direct repudiation of Monica’s entire enterprise of exclusion. It wasn’t just an example of a company ignoring her anti-LGBTQ cause, but effectively rebuking it.
Monica followed up this epic fail by speaking out against a Burger King ad that includes the word ‘damn.’ Damn.
Well now Monica is back, this time raging mad at the NFL for allowing an ad for Sabra hummus that features Rupaul’s Drag Race alumni Kim Chi and Miz Cracker on this Sunday’s Super Bowl telecast. Monica writes:
The NFL and Fox are set to make history this year by airing a Super Bowl ad that features drag queens. It’s will be the first commercial of its kind in Super Bowl history, and One Million Moms is asking that it be removed from the advertising lineup immediately.
An ad promoting drag queens is not what we had in mind when urging the NFL to keep the Super Bowl LIV commercials and halftime entertainment family-friendly.
The Sabra Hummus ad features drag queens Kim Chi and Miz Cracker, former contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race. One is snacking on hummus while the other is trying to fit a football helmet over his perfectly teased hair without causing helmet hair. The tagline: “Hair We Go 02.02.20.”
Sabra Dipping Company LLC is choosing to push an agenda of sexual confusion instead of promoting its actual product. The PC-inclusive ad blurs the biological distinctions between male and female. Normalizing this lifestyle is contrary to what conservative, Christian parents are teaching their children about God’s design for sexuality.
Thanks Sabra! Now parents have to explain to their confused children!
Drag queens to make historical debut during Super Bowl LIV [OMM]
First off, why is she bringing “sexual confusion” into it?! Monica, get your mind out of the gutter! There is absolutely nothing remotely sexual about the ad. She is literally the only one putting that idea into the minds of American families. Think of the children, Monica!
That aside, Let’s talk about the sheer hubris driving her demands. Monica writes, “An ad promoting drag queens is not what we had in mind…” What does she believe gives her the right to make this demand of the NFL? I mean, sure, there is the intense homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia that drives her to work every day. But why does she think that this personal belief in discrimination gives her some sort of capital? Did she leave the role of NFL stockholder out of her bio? Seriously confused here.
That said, I do want to applaud Monica. That’s because she actually seems to get the most important thing about this ad, and she says so in her first line: “The NFL and Fox are set to make history…”
“History.” She knows that this sort of inclusion is a huge step forward for Super Bowl ads which, in very recent memory, sparked negative discussion for showcasing homophobic or transphobic tropes. Monica knows that ads like this one deliver yet another repudiation of her work.
Only thing? She doesn’t yet realize how much of a repudiation it is, since the one ad Monica highlights is actually just one among a handful that will air on Sunday night. In total, there will be at least seven different ads that all feature LGBTQ people and/or content:
In addition to Sabra, the brands TurboTax, Pop-Tarts, Microsoft, Olay, Doritos, and Amazon Alexa will also be running LGBTQ-inclusive Super Bowl ads, a clear sign from the business community of the group’s hateful and out-of-sync messaging. In fact, the group is so ineffectual and tone-deaf in its attacks on diversity that GLAAD, an LGBTQ media organization, is calling on OMM and its executive director, Monica Cole, to call it quits in its own petition.
“Leading brands have learned that fringe anti-LGBTQ organizations like Monica Cole and her American Family Association so-called One Million Moms project, are not a reflection of where Americans are,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD’s president and CEO, who added that it was “about time” Americans see LGBTQ representation reflected in Super Bowl ads.
One Million Moms Petitions to Ban Super Bowl Drag Queen Ad [Advocate]
What we have here is another rebuke from another prominent company. Just like The Hallmark Channel, it is clear that advertising’s biggest night, and the NFL, want OMM to step aside and let the fair team play.
Thing is, Monica Cole can go after drag performers eating hummus all she wants. She can continue to take all of this on a case by case basis, if she wants to keep seeing it that way. The rest of us know that inclusion is not a trend that she or anyone else can roll back. It’s not a temporary development that she can petition away, no matter how many supporters she claims to have. “Family-friendly” today means all families, including LGBTQ ones. Our numbers are stronger, and the business world has come to realize that including LGBTQ people is simply good for both business and humanity. We eat hummus too.
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Jeremy Hooper is a longtime researcher and strategist, with a particular focus on the anti-LGBTQ religious right. His work has been featured in press outlets across the globe, and has been used by numerous political campaigns. From 2004 to 2015 he ran the popular blog Good As You, and wrote a well-received book on his own LGBTQ rights journey. He lives in NYC* with his husband and daughter.