A RITZ cracker ad that is uploaded to YouTube and ran on HGTV during the holiday season as part of an effort to “rethink what it means to be family” depicts a homosexual man, who dons red lipstick, putting his arms around his significant other. The advertisement has generated opposition from the site One Million Moms, which created a petition asking RITZ to stop “pushing the LGBTQ+ agenda on families.”
“At RITZ, we believe everyone should feel like they belong. That’s why this holiday, we’re encouraging people to rethink what it means to be family,” a webpage dedicated to the campaign states. “RITZ is on a mission to help make the world a more welcoming place.”
The advertisement is meant to highlight various causes that the brand is supporting, such as the homeless, Hispanic families, and those who identify as homosexual. The campaign site advises that RITZ is partnering with the homosexual advocacy It Gets Better Project, along with the groups Hispanic Star and Invisible People, by donating $50K to support their causes.
RITZ’s video depicts all three entities, opening with a homosexual man on a bus texting his seemingly estranged mother and asking to talk, with his partner putting on lipstick seconds later, presumably as he sits in front of a mirror.
“The holidays are about spending time with family, whether its the one you’re born into or the one you make,” the narrator states.
Later in the advertisement, the homosexual man knocks at the door of his partner’s home. As he opens the door, the two embrace, and the man with red lipstick — and now apparently blue eyeshadow — is seen putting his arm(s) around him in shots that follow.
“Where there’s love, there’s family,” the narrator says, the words also appearing on the screen, directing viewers to RITZ’s “Taste of Welcome” website.
While the video has generated 2.3K likes on YouTube, it also has 11K thumbs down. Part of the reaction may be due to the objection of One Million Moms, which created a petition asking for RITZ to stop pushing the homosexual agenda.
“RITZ Crackers is attempting to normalize the transgender lifestyle by airing a commercial that has absolutely nothing to do with selling crackers,” its webpage states. “The company’s most recent ad features a man putting on lipstick like a woman and effeminately clinging to another man to brainwash children and adults alike by desensitizing audiences.”
The group encouraged Christians to sign its petition, writing, “If RITZ Crackers refuses to remain neutral, then Christians will vote with their pocketbooks and support companies that do.”
As of press time, the petition has generated more than 23K signatures.
As previously reported, a number of companies have included homosexuality in their advertising in recent years, including Nabisco, Colgate, Tylenol, Kellogg’s, Cottonelle, Starbucks, Marriott, DirecTV, Zales, Walmart and Target. Other companies that have made their advocacy known in other ways include Oreo, Doritos, McDonald’s, Burger King, Chipolte, Hallmark, Disney and Sesame Street.
THE GOSPEL
While a common argument among those who struggle with feelings toward the same sex is that they were “born this way,” the Bible teaches that all are born with the Adamic sin nature (Romans 5:19), having various inherent feelings and inclinations that are contrary to the law of God and being utterly incapable of changing by themselves (Job 14:4).
All men, therefore, face the same predicament, being natural lawbreakers and guilty in the sight of God (Romans 3:19), evoking His wrath.
“[W]e all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others,” Ephesians 2:3 outlines.
“All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way,” Isaiah 53:6 reads, “and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
It is why Jesus came: to do what men could not do for themselves, to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
Scripture outlines that Jesus came to be the propitiation for men’s sins (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10), a doctrine in Christianity known as substitutionary atonement, and to save men from the wrath of God for their violations against His law (Romans 4:25, Romans 5:9, Romans 5:16), a doctrine known as justification.
In light of Christ laying down his life for His enemies (Romans 5:10), God calls all men to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15).
Acts 2:38-40 exhorts, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
The Bible also teaches about regeneration, as in addition to sparing guilty men from eternal punishment, Christ sent his Holy Spirit to make those who would repent and believe new creatures in the here and now, with new desires and an ability to do what is pleasing in the sight of God by His indwelling and empowerment (Ezekiel 11:19, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Titus 3:5).
The late Anglican preacher J.C. Ryle once explained, “The Lord Jesus has undertaken everything that His people’s souls require — not only to deliver them from the guilt of their sins by His atoning death but from the dominion of their sins by placing in their hearts the Holy Spirit; not only to justify them but also to sanctify them.”
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