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By Dean Norman

“It is shameful that Hallmark makes funny Easter cards.” That was what a letter from a customer said. The letter was referred to the Contemporary Department because we made the funny Easter cards. J. C. Hall was very sensitive to any suggestion that his greeting cards were in “poor taste.” It was only one letter, not a petition from an organization with a lot of signatures. However, Contemporary Director Bob McCloskey was told to find what cards we had made that could have offended this customer.

I thought that the objection was to all of the cards that made jokes about the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs, or anything else about a holiday that commemorated the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Maybe Hallmark should not make funny Easter cards.

But, heck, it was only one customer. And our funny Easter cards were very popular with people who liked to send a joke for any holiday, or any reason, or for no reason at all. McCloskey put all of the Easter cards we had made that year on a panel and asked us to see if we could see anything that would be objectionable to a religious person. We didn't see any problem. All of our cards were just nonsensical and humorous.

“Ah-Ha!” Bob said. “Maybe this one.” He pointed to a card with a cartoon of a smirking Easter Bunny saying, “So it's Easter.” Inside the bunny was holding a mug of beer, and saying, “What do you want? Egg in your beer?” 

Bob thought that the customer was probably angry about the idea that someone would drink beer on Easter. So he took that card to J.C. Hall and said it would be canceled from the line next year. A letter was composed to reply to the offended customer. It said something like, “We have found the offensive material that we should not have printed. We assure you that it will be removed from our selection of cards, and we will not make a similar mistake in the future.”

The customer may not have seen that card about egg in your beer, because it was a group of cards only sent to a few test stores. The cards in that group that sold well would be printed in larger quantities and sent to all Hallmark stores the next year. The offended customer did not mention that card but objected to ANY funny cards for a religious holiday. I guess the action taken solved the problem because we never heard any more about it.

— Dean Norman 

Dean Norman is a cartoonist and humor writer, whose work has appeared in greeting cards, The New Yorker, MAD Magazine, The Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine and The Kansas City Star. He's also written comedy for cartoon shows and written and illustrated children's books. He illustrated a cartoon book for Cleveland Metroparks, Cleveland Metroparks Adventures.