The selling of Mother's Day

Consumer focus has entirely shifted observance from founder's values and vision

By: Pat Daley

  A lot of people think Hallmark invented Mother's Day. In fact, Anna Jarvis did, and she wouldn't have thought much of Martha Stewart.
  Jarvis was the person responsible for the event known around the world as Mother's Day. Martha Stewart (MS) is the modern queen of obsessive housekeeping (the April issue of her magazine tells how best to hang clothes on the line) and head of a television, radio, Internet, publishing, home furnishings and paint empire.
  This year for Mother's Day, three lucky Zellers customers are going to win a trip to Westport, Connecticut and a behind-the-scenes visit to Martha Stewart Living Television. In case you didn't know, Zellers has exclusive Canadian rights to market the Martha Stewart Everyday Home line of household linens and accessories.
 

Zellers' ad strategy is "to make an emotional connection with moms... to make moms feel as if we understand their lives."

  Lisa Geddes is Zellers' buyer for the MS line. She won't say how big the sales volume is, only that MS is "by far the largest single volume line in linens," followed by the Canadian company Wabasso. The line's appeal lies in the colours, quality, and constantly changing styles for goods that sell at a reasonable price.
  The MS contest is all about making mom "feel like a queen," according to a Zellers news release. The company has a thing for moms, who make up the vast majority of its 10 million Club Z members. Now they're getting a chance to win big dough in yet another company contest, "Of Course I Want to Be a Millionaire." You may have seen the television commercials, where mom gets her own executive assistant named Brad.
  Brad fits well into the world of Martha Stewart, suggesting dinner conversation topics for family members and calling the neighbours to complain about how long it takes for them to bring in the trash bins after garbage day.
  The ads were designed by Ogilvy & Mather, whose account director Patrick Gladney told Strategy magazine that they wanted it to be consistent with the rest of Zellers' "work": "trying to make an emotional connection with moms... to make moms feel as if we understand their lives." And, by the way, get them to buy more and rack up those Club Z points in the hopes of winning a break.
  Anna Jarvis must be rolling over in her grave. She apparently told a reporter before her death in 1948 that she was sorry she had ever started Mother's Day.
  Jarvis's mother had started a series of Mothers' Day Work Clubs in West Virginia before the U.S. Civil War to improve sanitary and health conditions. When war broke, the clubs remained neutral, providing food, clothing, and medical treatment soldiers stationed in the area. In 1865, she organized the first Mothers' Friendship Day to bring together soldiers and neighbours in frendship and peace.
  After her death in 1905, her daughter Anna decided to make the creation of a nationally recognized Mother's Day her personal cause. (Another campaign had also been started in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe, peacemonger, feminist and author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.)
 

"This is not what I intended. I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit!" - Anna Jarvis, inventor of Mother's Day

  In 1910, the governor of West Virginia proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. It's now recognized around the world.
  As the day changed from one of church-going to gift-giving, Jarvis grew angry. She filed a lawsuit to stop a 1923 Mother's Day festival. She was arrested for disturbing the peace at a war mothers' convention where women sold white carnations - her symbol for mothers - to raise money.
  "This is not what I intended," Jarvis declared. "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit!"
  Today, moms are big business. Women overall account for about 70 per cent of all retails sales. In Canada's 4,298 shopping centres, those sales reached $94.2 billion in 1998, according to the International Council of Shopping Centres.
  But there's something about the idea of crisp, clean clothes, perfectly decorated cakes, and fresh paint that's alluring and downright entertaining. I know - the Martha Stewart Living, Canadian Living, and Homemaker's magazines are in a nice stack on top of the MS Everyday Home vinyl tablecloth in my own kitchen. Now what will I give my mom for Mother's Day?

Pat Daley is a freelance writer and editor in Athlone in Simcoe County, Ontario.

Get More/Do More
Information on the history of Mother's Day came from americanhistory.about.com/education/americanhistory/library/weekly/aa050499.htm.

For all things Martha, see www.marthastewart.com.

For a funny Martha Stewart parody, visit members.tripod.com/~MrsMegaByte.

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