Over Thanksgiving we posted a Bed, Bath, and Beyond ad that illustrated the fact that women, overwhelmingly, take responsibility for the work involved with holidays. Victoria S. sent us a U.K. website illustrating the same idea. The website, for a shopping center, is using the slogan, the 12 Mums of Christmas.
Victoria writes:
…it assumes that the mum of the family does EVERYTHING for the family/friends. It also forgets about people who therefore don’t have children, or people who are on their own, or those that don’t have a mum-type figure in their lives etc…
The site even nicely describes the various tasks that “mums” are responsible for.
The shopper:
The planner:
The wrapper:
The party girl:
Mums! Do all the work! Look great! And have a good time, too! Or else you fail as a mother. Just sayin’.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 10
jane — December 24, 2009
This is in my town! I was disgusted and annoyed when I first saw it for a number of reasons. Firstly, as pointed out why are only mums interested in the chores of Christmas? It reinforces womens' role as subservient, we have to organise Christmas so our families have a great time and that we have to enjoy it cos it's all about shopping (which we love, didn't you know?). Dads (or men) have no role in this. Secondly, mums fit neatly into 12 handy 1950s style stereotypes. And lastly, this is for a shopping centre where not only that type of shopper shops, and this isnt the first time its marketed itself at a kind of middle aged, middle class female shopper. I'm not sure that this type of shopper makes up the largest proportion of shoppers to the Overgate. I completely offends me and isnt even targeted at me. Urgh, I was going to write an angry letter to them but didn't think it was worth it. I did tweet them about it expressing my disgust (yes they have a twitter page http://twitter.com/Overgate_Mum) and didn't get any response.
Quick scan of the net – celebrity mums | An Australian in Prague — December 24, 2009
[...] http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/12/24/12-mums-makes-the-workload-light/…it assumes that the mum of the family does EVERYTHING for the family/friends. It also forgets about people who therefore don’t have children, or people who are on their own, or those that don’t have a mum-type figure in their lives etc… … celebrity (31), children/youth (248), class (175), clothes/fashion (180), color (43), commodification (71), communism/socialism (8), consumption (80), cosmetic surgery (41), crime/law (65), cultural imperialism/(neo)colonialism (50) … [...]
Jamie — December 24, 2009
LOL Where's the not-white, not-christian, working-poor single mum who can't afford this crap? Is she the partridge in the over-priced pear tree?
Oh, nvm, she's merely a fable.
What others have been saying about celebrity mums « Curtain Up. Light the Lights. — December 24, 2009
[...] http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/12/24/12-mums-makes-the-workload-light/…it assumes that the mum of the family does EVERYTHING for the family/friends. It also forgets about people who therefore don’t have children, or people who are on their own, or those that don’t have a mum-type figure in their lives etc… … celebrity (31), children/youth (248), class (175), clothes/fashion (180), color (43), commodification (71), communism/socialism (8), consumption (80), cosmetic surgery (41), crime/law (65), cultural imperialism/(neo)colonialism (50) … [...]
Erica — December 24, 2009
Ugh. As a new mom, I'm hyper-conscious of media suggestions of what constitutes "my" work. The 1950's graphics are offensive for the roles they depict. Yes, I just figured out that moms really DO make the holidays happen, but it doesn't have to be that way (and would be nicer if it wasn't). Campaigns like this only bolster unnecessary stereotypes.
Grape — January 10, 2010
My town too! Wow, I'm so proud to be associated with this.
These twelve images were displayed on banners all around the shopping centre. I was a bit baffled by them. If they were innocently going for the 'kitsch' 50's thing, why portray only this 'super-woman' character?
The images seemed to add more guilt/stress to the hysterical shopping frenzy.
GidgiePie — December 25, 2010
This reminded me an old but very realistic anecdote from the olden Soviet Union days (yes, I grew up under the red flag, not exactly by choice though)...
Anyway, here it goes:
"A good proletarian family welcomes an American guest to their home.
Guest:"You must have a really good cleaner - your house is so tidy and clean!"
Host:"Oh no, that's just my wife..."
"But you surely must have a great cook - the food is fabulous!"
"Oh, nothing like that! My wife does all the cooking"
"Well, look at your lovely and well behaved children - your governess does a great job"
"No, that is not the case... my wife looks after the kids"
"Well, looks like that crafters in town are rather skilled - look at all the stunning textiles around your home"
"Oh no, my wife does all that too!..
Guest:"Don't you bloody tell me that you sleep with that work horse too!"
Unfortunately, no matter how much we will rally for the gender equality, there will never be anything like that. The differences are too deep embedded into our minds and looks like some retailers favour the 1940s style of advertising, which brings the spirit of those times back and not exactly for better.
Gilbert Pinfold — December 26, 2011
Is it OK for this demographic to even exist? I sense an annihilationist tendency here.