Mother's Day

In the weeks leading up to Mother's Day, I see advertisements reminding me of the holiday everywhere I look. Whether it's a commercial on TV or an ad in a magazine or on social media, these ads seem to span all forms of media. Most of these ads are for products these companies think the basic consumer-mother would like: makeup, flowers, edible arrangements, jewelry, etc. This is obviously not applicable to every mother, but it must be for many, as it was reported in 2018 that American consumers spent a total of $21.3 billion dollars on typical Mother's Day gifts, such as the ones aforementioned.

Some of the Mother's Day ads can become borderline—or outright—sexist. I have seen ads in the past advertising KitchenAids, vacuum cleaners, fridges and more for Mother's Day. This clearly insinuates that all mothers do is cook and clean, which is obviously not true. Some mothers may appreciate these gifts, but this is such a blaring generalization made about a whole group of people that comes off as ignorant. I have noticed that Mother's Day commercials have slightly changed their tone. They're more heartfelt and poetic, but at the end of the day, they're still trying to sell you a product. It's a step up from kitchenware ads, I'll give them that.

These ads are so widespread that I begin to feel worried about those who have lost their moms or have never had one or don't have a stable relationship with them. This holiday can be really hard for some people and I feel like these ads can just make matters worse. This is another negative effect of the hyper-marketability of this holiday. I get that Mother's Day is important in American culture, and I don't think we should rid of all Mother's Day ads just to comfort those who don't celebrate, but something about it all just seems wrong to me. Brands are taking advantage of the emotional connections people have with their mothers and using that to profit off of.