Photos: Woman Tries to Marry Corporation

After being stood up at the altar, bride Robin Hansen realized why her groom—Bank of America—never showed up: he wasn’t a real person.

“You promised me a wonderful life,” cried the “bride,” Robin Hansen, to the  on Jefferson Avenue and Marshall Street. “You promised affordable housing, non-predatory lending and no unfair foreclosure practices.”

According to the January 2010 Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission, corporations also have the rights to make political expenditures under the First Amendment, which has elicited comparisons of corporations to people.

The organization MoveToAmend.org, which is dedicated to overriding the idea of corporate personhood, staged the skit Wednesday afternoon to show that corporations like Bank of America are not people.

Hansen and her wedding guests of about 30 people are just one branch of approximately 100 around the country that stage similar skits.

“Corporations are not people,” said Veronica Palmer, the Director of the San Mateo County Move To Amend branch. “Yet they can spend tons of money funding people’s campaigns.”

Bridesmaid Carol Cross said that these productions provide variation to the typical sign picketing protests that many people often tire of.

“It’s important to inject humor in these skits,” she said. “It gets our message across in a different way.”

However, proponents of Citizens United argue that the First Amendment protects corporations’ freedom of speech by allowing them to support political campaigns in any way they wish, including monetary donations.

Opponents believe that this allows corporations to spend excessive amounts of money funding political campaigns.  They said the only way to repeal the decision is to spread awareness and put pressure on local officials to make change.