Illegal or Just Inappropriate in Someone's View??

I am sure it is NOT illegal and I say "Merry Christmas" regularly around the Holidays.  I also sent out calendars with Merry Christmas on the front.  (purchased them from a Real Estate supply company)  I have never received a negative comment and most often the client/customer returns the greeting.

Freedom of religion does not mean people who want to be free from religion can impose unsubstantiated allegations of speech restrictions upon you. I frequently talk about my husband being Jewish and I being Christian on my blog. I say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays without thinking about the religion of the person I am speaking to because I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY BELIEVE. I simply say what ever I mean to say. I have atheist friends who wish us both lovely thoughts during the holiday seasons. Your marketer is mistaken on several counts but I am not about to get caught up in being accused of giving legal advice.

An MLS restriction is about business rules. Wishing someone well is about personality. Fair Housing isn't about reverse discrimination against religious or non-religious Realtors, it is about not discriminating against consumers.

Ask your dumb-dumb marketer how they would market AIG products that conform to Sharia Law that are specifically marketed world wide as being financial products that conform to Islamic requirements. I really want to hear what dumb-dumb has to say about the billions of product sold this way. Including international religious real estate. Seriously...

Featured @ Club Chaos

I'm with Carolyn. That's absolutely ludicrous (and I come down firmly on the Happy Holidays side of the argument in general). I agree with your thought about not mentioning Christmas in a listing but simply wishing someone a happy holiday - whatever that holiday may be - doesn't violate any law that I know of.

LOL @ Dawn. I am glad that marketer is not your marketer and I shall bite my tongue on my thoughts in this regards (LMAO). I will be lurking on and off here for the rest of the day because I too am looking forward to watching the conversation progress...

Marketing is about putting the best interests of the project campaign forward, not about imposing personal religious preferences on a client. I think that is why I am really picky about my small little newsletter. I don't just take any ad request that comes along. One of my friends accepted a rotating ad account from a client who purchased X amount of slots for a specific project. They then sold off their unused ad slots to a third party because they abandoned the venture. The third party forwarded their new ad under the original party's account that produced ads the printer and publisher found offensive and refused to run. It triggered the owner looking into the account to resolve the issue. My friend discovered the unauthorized assignment of the account so she had a choice: dump the printer and publisher or dump the third party ad. She dumped the ad because she valued her reputation, business relationships and friendships with her regular vendors. 

The third party argued with the publisher (Christian) and printer (Jewish) for allegedly interfering with a business relationship, then threatened to sue her for various torts inclusive of citing religious discrimination. Her stance was she was obligated to run the contractual, specific ad of the original party which was previously approved in writing and not the substituted ad of the third party (not approved, no change order on file, no termination fees paid for the work of designing the original series of ads to run for a specified duration and there was no contract with the three firms refusing to run the ad of the third party).

Graphics are a communication service and the service agreement was not transferable but it did have kill fees for terminating the 12 month project. There was a withdraw and termination clause in her graphic artist contract with the original party because the artist paid cash upfront for material, supplies, press and publishing expenses. Assigning the ad space for profit was bad faith circumvention of paying the kill fees.

My point? You need to find a way to have an exit strategy so people can't drag you into third party crap you didn't anticipate when advertising and marketing firms do what they want instead of what they are supposed to... When we don't pay attention stuff gets inserted that has no business being there (e.g. ignoring breach of contract, substituting without permission, OR A MARKETER TELLING YOU YOUR HABITS ARE ILLEGAL (LOL). Isn't a legal opinion something your LAWYER makes for you? This is why I said I do not want to get accused of the unauthorized practice of law (LOL). ;-) 

Can't imagine why someone would think it would be illegal to wish someone Merry Christmas.  That just seems ridiculous.  I'm with C- glad this person is not your marketer.

That marketer was clueless on fair Housing.  It sounded like she was very controlling and opinionated.

Great post, Dawn!  If we have to conform our own values to suit every religion or group we may as well live our entire lives in a hole somewhere!  Hey, free speech trumps these ridiculous opinions any day!  Not every individual who calls themselves "professional" knows what the heck they're talking about! 

Dawn, I can't believe someone would possibly think it's illegal to say Merry Christmas.  I also don't believe it is inappropriate. especially if you know that person celebrates Christmas.

Wow, I never thought about it like that, maybe it is different here but I will definitely check next year, I always send out holiday cards...better than Merry Christmas, as I know some clients don't celebrate at all or celebrate different faiths and holidays.

Katherine

I sent both Christmas card and Happy Holiday cards.  I do have some jewish clients and I made it a point to send them a holiday card, but I do openly wish a Merry Christmas

Belated Merry Christmas, Dawn! I laugh about this every year! Isn't it crazy???

Well, Merry Christmas to you too.

Noticed that the Cary Christmas Tree is back to being officially the "Cary Christmas Tree" after a LOOONG debate this year.