Hallmark is seeing dollar signs at California's recent decision to allow same-sex marriage. The Associated Press reports that Hallmark has added
"It's our goal to be as relevant as possible to as many people as we can," Hallmark spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg Kolell said.
Hallmark's largest competitor, American Greetings Corp., has no plans to enter the market, saying its current offerings are general enough to speak to a lot of different relationships.
Hallmark started offering "coming out" cards last year, and the four designs of same-sex marriage cards are being gradually released this summer and will be widely available by next year. No sales figures were available yet.
"When I have shopped for situations like babies or weddings for gay friends I have good luck in quirky stores," said Kathryn Hamm, president of the Web site gayweddings.com.
"But if you are just in a generic store ... the bride and groom symbol or words are in most cards," she said. "It becomes difficult to find some that are neutral but have some style."
The AP says Hallmark competitor American Greetings has no plans at this time to add gay marriage cards. The AP also says that Hallmark will let its retail stores choose whether or not they want to carry the cards. Last year Hallmark launched "coming out" cards. Those cards and Hallmark's new gay wedding cards have been denounced by American Family Association reports Bgay.com.
Hallmark is seeing dollar signs at California's 