Pride Month is being celebrated in June all over the world. It is a way to celebrate inclusivity of people from all walks of life through parades, rallies and events. Members of the LGBTQIA+ community often use the rainbow colour print as part of the celebrations, whether in the form of a flag or incorporating it in dresses, posters, and even food! Confections, a bakery based in Texas decided to launch a new rainbow-coloured cookie for Pride Month. However, the idea did not go down well with its followers and customers as revealed in their Facebook post. Take a look:
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The original post by Confections featured a heart-shaped rainbow cookie for Pride Month. "More love. Less hate. Happy Pride to all our LGBTQ friends! All lovers of cookies and happiness are welcome here," read the caption to it. Sadly, the Texas bakery lost a significant number of followers after their post. Further, a large order of five dozen cookies was also cancelled at the last minute after seeing the heart-shaped rainbow cookie.
"My heart is heavy. Honestly, I never thought a post that literally said more love less hate would result in this kind of backlash to a very small business that is struggling to stay afloat and spread a little cheer through baked goods," wrote the owners Miranda and Dawn Cooley in their post. They also invited their followers to come and sample the large batch of summer-themed cookies which they had baked for the cancelled order.
When followers and locals heard of their favourite bakery's ordeal - they stepped up in large numbers to show support. The very next day, queues lined up outside the Confections bakery, much to the surprise of the two owners. "We are overwhelmed. This was taken around noon today and sent to us by a sweet customer. Thank you," they wrote. Take a look:
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Later that night, the Confections bakery handle posted about how they had sold out their entire stock - an unprecedented number of sales, unheard of in their past 11 years of operation. "We (my sister and co-owner Miranda and our fabulous baker Felicia) are just so humbled and grateful and moved by this outpouring of love. The last several people in our shop put money on their credit card for us to donate because there was nothing left to purchase," they wrote in the post. Several users also left comments on their Facebook post about how they'd like to contribute for their bakery.
It's truly heartening to see such wonderful stories about the power of social media. What did you think of the Texas bakery's story? Tell us in the comments below.