Microsoft is coming under fire for a
holiday-themed ad that celebrates diversity.
In the nearly 2-minute ad, titled
Microsoft
Celebrates the Spirit of the Season, a variety of people use
Microsoft's Surface Studio, the company's first desktop computer, to
“spread harmony.”
Among those featured are Jazz Jennings,
the 16-year-old transgender star of the TLC reality series I Am
Jazz, and Zea Bowling, the 7-year-old girl who last year stood up
to a homophobic preacher at a Columbus, Ohio community festival.
Video of Bowling holding a rainbow flag at the preacher has received
more than 8.5 million views.
“People should let people be whoever
they want to be,” Bowling says in the ad.
Catholic League's Bill Donohue, a vocal
opponent of LGBT rights, blasted Microsoft's ad, saying that the
company was “exploiting” Christmas by “pushing the LGBT
agenda.”
“If the bi-coastal elites at
Microsoft really believe in diversity, then let them have their LGBT
celebrations in June during gay pride month, and leave December to
Christians,” he said.
Response to the ad on YouTube, where it
has been viewed nearly 2.2 million times, has been overwhelmingly
positive.