Tis the season to be bombarded with a relentless barrage of advertisements reminding us that the best way to show someone you care is to spend copious amounts of money buying themthings they don’t need. The rampant consumerism associated with Christmas usually turns me into a bit of a Grinch, but this year a few of the commercials I’ve seen have managed to leave a favorable impression on me. Why? Diversity, representation, and inclusion.
You may think that because I am a heterosexual, able-bodied, middle-aged, white man I don’t care about diversity, representation, or inclusion in holiday commercials. Perhaps I wouldn’t care as much if I were simply a heterosexual, able-bodied, middle-aged, white man living in an all-heterosexual, able-bodied, white family. Thankfully, that is not the case.
My family is the living embodiment of the term Diversity and includes some of the most amazing people I know. Among my siblings, children, cousins, nieces, and nephews are people who are LGBTQ, Asian, Black, and differently-abled. I am happy to see advertisers finally recognizing the fact that America truly is a melting pot made up of various races, sexual orientations, and physical conditions. I am happy to see my family represented on TV.
I have been pleased to see ads recently that lovingly depict mixed-race families, people who are lesbian, gay, or transgender, and children with limb differences. (My family in a nutshell.) These depictions may not mean much to you, but for the families represented in these commercials, it means everything. For far too long in this country, being a “typical” American meant being a straight, white American. Advertisers have propagated this myth in print for centuries and on television for decades. Finally, there seems to be a realization among companies who advertise that there is no such thing as a “typical” American family.
As the depiction of American diversity becomes more commonplace in commercials, television shows, and movies, the hope is that all Americans will eventually feel represented. Only then will we all begin to feel included.
Everyone deserves to feel included, no matter who they are, no matter who they love, no matter the color of their skin, no matter where they were born, and whether or not they use a wheelchair or were born with ten fingers and ten toes. We all just want a seat at the table. In the United States, we have a pretty big table with room enough for all Americans.
Yet there are those who disagree. The Westboro Baptist Church, the KKK, neo-Nazis, the Proudboys, and One Million Moms are groups of mostly white heterosexuals who hold rallies, boycott businesses and television networks, and lash out against LGBTQ people, people of color, and/or others who don’t represent their definition of “American Values”. These are the people who insist that there is a war on Christmas, yet their refusal to accept and love others as they are makes them the least Christ-like among us.
I am not a fan of the commercialization of Christmas, but I am becoming a fan of some of the commercials I’ve seen this Christmas season. Will that be enough to compel me to go out and buy the products those companies are selling? Probably not. If One Million Moms boycotts it, however, I might buy stock in the company.
Watch for those commercials that celebrate the diversity of our great nation. Buy their products if you feel like supporting them. More importantly, support the people around you who are being represented in those ads. I can assure you that someone you love is gay, someone you care about is living with a disability, someone you know is struggling to raise their non-white children in a country rife with white-supremacists.
If you care about putting Christ back in Christmas, then do as He commanded: Love your neighbor as yourself.
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