Brands, It’s Time to Put Mothers Back into Mother's Day

Image credit: Ijaz Rafi via Unsplash

Mothering Sunday is almost upon us. A fact that won’t have gone unnoticed if, like me, your inbox had been flooded with links for gifts, dates for ordering flowers, restaurant options or requests to opt out of comms altogether.

There’s certainly more than a hint of comic irony in my house on that one Sunday in March. Like the fact that every single one of my Mother’s Day gifts from my son over the years have, without fail, been lovingly crafted or bought by someone else, be it support workers or teaching assistants at school or college (I’ve still kept them all, mind). Or that my able daughters don’t really give a shit about Mother’s Day (granted, it is the week before my birthday, as they rightly say), but it’s obvious they feel pressured to mark it.

And it’s big business. According to Statistica, in 2023, retail spending on Mother's Day in the UK was projected to reach £1.28 billion. Less than what was spent the previous year - £1.49 billion - but still an eye-watering amount and a lucrative time of the year for brands.

When we think of Mother’s Day, it’s hard to escape from the brand campaigns encouraging us to buy gifts, cards, flowers, and chocolates, to the extent that any thought of what the tradition actually means - expressing our feelings of gratitude and affection - is often all too quickly replaced by options of what you can afford. And it’s dissed for its commercialism as a result.

But here’s the thing. Mother’s Day may well be an old concept but it’s one that brands should revitalise. The founder of Mother’s Day in the US - Anna Jarvis, wanted the day to be about recognising the sacrifices mothers made for children, and about honouring the woman who dedicated her life to you. How sardonic then that it’s generally mums reminding their partners to get something in time for their mums - and those same mums who probably end up both ordering and paying for it.

And this is precisely what much of the marketing buzz around Mother’s Day overlooks; that maybe - just maybe, the most important element for the majority of mums in the UK is that such a day really does matter, even when they say it doesn’t.

So brands, it’s time to stop selling this Mother’s Day, and celebrate mothers instead.

The simple fact is that 93% of mums feel unappreciated, unacknowledged or unseen*. They don’t get a thank you for all the time they spend feeding little mouths and big ones, wiping bums (little and big ones too), filing cupboards and drawers, bringing, collecting, supporting, sorting, calling, encouraging, averting, protecting, being there.

It’s vital for brands to understand the essence of Mother’s Day and why it still matters - to celebrate and cherish mothers and shout out about the work we do.

Bring on the campaigns that remember the power of saying thank you, that celebrate mothers for simply being there but which most of all, recognise us for who we are and what we do.

For all of them and all of us, even when it means five minutes of recognition and a petrol station-bought moment of expressed love, protect Mother’s Day.

Let’s acknowledge the commercial glory that inevitably accompanies celebrations like this, but let’s also give ourselves a well-deserved pat on the back. Us mothers are still breathing, still here, with that sock draw full of speedily bought or shittily crafted tokens of life.

* Invisible Mothers: The State of Invisibility survey from Peanut, data from September 2023