No Mother’s Day greetings in the newspaper

May 20, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Last Sunday was Mother’s Day. While not a public holiday, it is one of the most popular days in the calendar. It is a day devoted to honoring mothers and is usually observed by children giving of gifts, family gatherings, dining and other special.

Mother’s Day is a special day not only for mothers but for families. It is one of those occasions when almost the entire family gathers together. Mothers have that effect of bringing people together.

The popularity of the day is enhanced through advertising. Businesses make it their duty to advertise their goods and services prior to Mother’s Day. And because most children want to show their appreciation of their mothers, the day before Mother’s Day has become of the busiest shopping days of the year, second only to Christmas Eve.

Businesses make a ton of money on Mother’s Day because there is a deluge of shoppers seeking presents for their mothers. The last shopping day before Mother’s Day usually witnesses a surge in sales as persons try to find the best and affordable gifts to give to their moms. From the jewelry stores to the flower shops to the clothing stores, to the shoes stores, to the stores that sell household items, they all do well, even to the point of having to extend their opening hours.

On Mother’s Day itself, restaurants are usually booked fully as children take the opportunity to taking their mothers out to lunch or dinner. And many children prefer to purchase food on that day rather than burden their mothers with cooking. The take-away food business also thrives on this day.

You would therefore expect, like at Christmas, for businesses to extend Mother’s Day greetings to their customers. But this was not to be when it came to newspaper advertising.

A perusal of last Sunday’s Kaieteur News and Stabroek News was very revealing. Not a single business entity extended Mother’s day greetings to its customers in the Kaieteur News or the Stabroek News, the country’s two leading dailies. In the latter, there were 3 advertisements concerning Mother’s Day, all of which were about the sale of lunches and food for the day.

On certain special days, businesses make it their duty to take out small advertisements in the newspapers in order to send greetings to the public and their customers. So for example, for Phagwah, Diwali, Christmas etc. businesses purchase a few column inches in which they place greetings in the newspapers. It is their way of showing appreciation and at the same time, tapping in on the popularity of the occasion.

So why not do the same on Mother’s Day? After all is Mother’s Day one of briskest days for doing business.

Placing newspaper greetings is a tradition and traditions do count to customers. And this was one tradition that should not have been bypassed. But it is also a way of giving back. Businesses like to boast about their social responsibility, yet this opportunity was spurned.

Father’s Day is coming soon. But do not expect the stores to be packed, the streets to be overflowing with customers nor the newspaper to have a single Father’s Day greeting.

You would have thought that Mother’s Day would have been an occasion for businesses to extend their connection to the public by tapping into the nostalgia associated with this day. You would have expected some heartwarming and kindhearted greetings expressing appreciation for mothers and the roles which they play in society.

Strictly from a commercial point of view you would have expected advertisers to tap into the sentiments of this day and in so doing strengthen the appeal of their brand. But for some strange reason this did not happen. You would have presumed that this was an opportunity for greater brand visibility. But this too was passed up.

The Caribbean Premier League is coming and you can bet that companies are going to be buying spots on television and in the newspaper, trying to establish an association between the popularity of the T20 tournament and their products. But for some strange reason the same was not done for Mother’s Day.

There was a great deal of advertising before Mother’s Day. Stores and shops advertised their products inviting customers to buy their products as gifts for mothers. And touching verses were used in many of the ads. The same would have been nice in Mother’s day greetings on Mother’s Day itself

And that is why it was most disappointing that the same attention was not paid to sending out greetings on Mother’s day to mothers in Guyana. You want people to buy your product but you can’t even show appreciation by sending a greeting to all mothers in the country?

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• Christmas, dining, family gatherings, gifts, Peeping Tom

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