A toy BB gun, a leg lamp, and a baby wearing a bunny costume. A rather innocuous combination, right?… Wrong! Well, it’s wrong if you’re a big time party pooper - and as we know there are always party poopers around.
Amy Haehl, a photographer in Shelbyville, Ind., loves Christmas - and because she loves Christmas she decided to take and share a photo of a baby that re-creates a scene from the best Christmas movie ever made, A Christmas Story.
(If you’re a fan of classic Christmas movies, you have certainly seen A Christmas Story and probably watched it over one-million times, but back to the story at hand.)
Haehl posted the picture of a baby boy named William to her business’s Facebook Page (Coffee Creek Studio), with thoughts that the photo would be well received - and who could blame her?
“Only 49 days until Christmas!!” she captioned the photo. “Ralph loved his pink bunny suit I had made for him!” she continued before posting a disclaimer. “The BB gun is made of wood to ensure that he did NOT shoot his eye out during the creation of this photo.”
Some followers of her business’s Facebook page were ready to be offended and didn’t care that the BB gun was fake. They let Haehl know that the “Scrooges were in town” and there would be no fun on their watch.
“Will now unfollow you. Who the hell would take a picture of a baby and a gun just for money. Such a waste since you are so talented. Think hard about your lack of principles,” one Scrooge commented.
“Also unfollowing and unliking you. Extremely distasteful. How do you think the parents of the babies that were killed in Newtown would feel looking at this photo? Guns are never ‘cute,’ not even as a prop or movie reference. Disgusting. I hope none of our babies are ever shot. The gun culture in this country is a disgrace,” Scrooge no. 2 wrote.
Haehl told Yahoo Lifestyle that she meant to “bring a smile to people’s faces” with the re-creation:
“Of course I know in the world we live in I was taking the chance that someone would be offended, and I definitely did take that into consideration while still creating a photo with the perfect details,” she says. “I know there have been a few comments made in regards to gun violence, and this photo is in no way meant to encourage gun violence or offend anyone who has been affected by gun violence.”
Even with all the “controversy” going on a lot of Haehl’s followers did show appreciation for her creativity with the photo. “Absolutely LOVE the baby with gun photo. Just came here to let you know that!” one woman told her.
‘’I think this is such a fantastic and adorable picture. Great imagination, props- everything about this photo is wicked cute! Great job! And to the naysayers - GET A LIFE, personality and sense of humor STAT! The world needs more people with a sense of humor and less of the hyper-sensitivity,” another said.
It’s good to see not everyone is up in arms about a harmless photo such as this, and might I offer a suggestion to the ‘offended’ folks looking at this photo: Look at the baby in the picture and do exactly what he is doing… take - a - nap!
H/T: Yahoo Lifestyle