The 30th of May is mother’s day in Nicaragua, and brands and companies go all out to “celebrate and pay tribute” to moms. This year, the day was even declared a national holiday by the state. Starting in early May, all billboards get covered in red and pink, and mostly everybody has some sort of deal or discount for moms; the flower stores have the single most significant day of the year. This year one big national brand launched a full out campaign to celebrate mother’s day, mother’s week and mother’s month: a wild display of billboards along the main roads. As expected, all of them had a pink background, with delicate typography and the perfect gift for moms pictured front and center: pots and pans, a new kitchen, a blender, and a coffee maker, accompanied by the claim “Mom is the priority now”.
As someone who works in branding and has worked in marketing for over a decade, I can put myself in the shoes of the creative team. I can see how moms enjoy green smoothies, coffee, and most of us can’t live without it. Some of us would love a new stove. I can see how they thought this made all the sense. I can’t stop feeling disturbed.
First, it’s 2022 and the message we continue to receive is “for moms and women, cooking is the priority”. It assumes that for our special day we are dying to get a better tool for our special day to keep caring for our families and doing our household chores. WRONG! Oh my Gosh!, we love so many more things more than cooking. I know of a LOT of moms that would rather get a set of wine glasses for when they have their girlfriends over. Or moms who love to work out and are into weights and gym equipment. SO many moms who are handy, and love to build stuff, fix stuff, create stuff. Many other moms who love music, a good music equipment would be the BOOM. Or camping gear. A new set of bed sheets to make our sleeping space more comfortable and have a good rest after the super heavy workloads that women nowadays experience on a normal day with work and family . The list can go on and on.
It is not that we want something better than just tools for the job that apparently we have to do. It is more than that, it is the giant billboard for all little girls to see that perpetuates such old fashioned, obsolete ideas- putting women in the same little box forever. I can’t stand it. Let’s show a mom with a drill, with a hammer, with a wine glass or beer glass having the time of her life. Barbecuing with friends. Karaoking the night away. Watching an amazing netflix marathon on the flat screen TV. For crying out loud let’s take mom out of the KITCHEN, where she is NOT spending all of her time. Let’s paint a more real and promising present and future for young women, for little girls, and for all women. Let’s show them that they are meant to be so much more than just the caretaker of the family. In the year 2022, WOMEN are not meant to JUST cook.
Let’s do better. Let’s move away from century-old stereotypes.
Father’s day is the next “holiday” and I can already see the billboards of tool boxes, tools, coolers, BBQs, flat screen TVs. I can assure you that there will be no kitchens, pots and pans in those ads – (giant eye roll). How is it that in the 21st century we are still portraying girls in pink in the kitchen and boys in blue building things. How does this continue to happen? And why are we letting them get away with it?
As consumers, let’s speak up, and be loud when we see brands getting it wrong. As brands let’s think about the impact we have. Look beyond the sale, look at to the legacy we are building, the future we are shaping. Let’s inspire girls, celebrate women for what they really are. After all, people don’t buy what brands do, they buy why they do it.
Here are just a few examples of what this looks like: “Like a girl” by Nike, Imagine a CEO: Is it a woman? or Heiniken: Cheers to all fans.
One way to begin is to start the conversation. As a brand: What would you put on your billboard to celebrate moms? And if you are a mom how would you depict yourself celebrating yourself?!