Same-sex couple featured in Kohl's holiday commercial

Kohl’s is the latest company to embrace diversity this holiday season with a new ad featuring a same-sex couple.

The Wisconsin-based retailer released the commercial on Nov. 16 as part of its #AllTogetherNow holiday campaign. In the clip, a family gathers around a table and a same-sex couple stands and shares a toast with the family.

“The best part of the holidays? Being together with family and friends, of course,” Kohl’s wrote on YouTube. 

The advertisement comes the same week Mattel featured a boy in a Barbie commercial for the first time in the company’s history.  While many praised the move on social media, others noted that the little boy was perpetuating “stereotypes” of gay men. A Campbell's Soup advertisement also featured two gay fathers.

Not surprisingly, reaction to the Kohl’s commercial was mixed on social media.

"The inclusion of a same-sex couple in your ad suggests to me that you are for that lifestyle," Chris Burgess of Florida, wrote on Facebook. "I have never been a supporter of the gay lifestyle and will never be."

Though most praised the company for including a same-sex couple in the commercial.

People will likely see the same-sex couple featured in the ad again, according to Advertising Age.

Kohl's is planning to release stories of each of the members of the multi-generational family shown in the commercial, Advertising Age reported.

Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.