By Jenny Martel
You and Your Family Will Be Infested With Scary Germs and Die (unless you buy this product.)
Companies love to market to moms with this theme.
The Bounty Duratowel is the commercial that first comes to my mind. The ubiquitous innocent baby is devouring spaghetti in the messiest way possible off the vulnerable surface of her high chair. Vulnerable, people, that surface is being invaded by the enemy. This is one of my least favorite tactics used to market to moms and I’m sure other mothers share this opinion.
Or there’s another popular tactic to market to moms I call the “Octopus Mom”. She needs eight arms to keep all her balls in the air. This is the mom tearing down her suburban staircase in a business suit while carrying a laundry basket. She has an iPhone plastered to her ear and there is a pot boiling over on the stove. Children, one of whom has just ridden his muddy bike across the cream-colored Tibetan rug, are yelling and running about the house. Insert product that is going to help you, Octopus Mom, deal with your chaotic, multi-tasking life. (Personally, I think that ancient ad from Calgon “Take Me Away” started this whole thing.)
Fear-based advertising reacts urgently on the mom psyche. The fear of not getting everything done, not protecting your family from bad things, the fear of having your sweet domestic solace invaded by the greatest foe of all, THE GERM.
So why are these themes such a mainstay when advertisers market to moms?
There are two main mom categories being targeted and generalized by advertisers – stay-at-home and working moms. In the first category the assumption is that we are filled with anxiety and hyperirrational focus on the micro-level of the domestic universe. The germ ads almost always feature a stay-at-home mom. The multitasking ads targeted working moms assume those moms have a fervent desire to get everything done or they’ll go insane.
Obviously, marketers are playing to several emotions, but fear seems to be the most prevalent. However, having been both a stay-at-home and a working mom, if I’m approached in a fear-based way I feel insulted and preyed upon. I don’t care if focus groups show that the best way into my pocketbook is through my emotions. I don’t want to be swayed by negative fear-based emotion. I’m not that dumb. And I believe I’m like most moms who always know on some level when their emotions are being exploited in a negative way.
Moms are the ultimate multitaskers but we always try to prioritize our children first. That’s what advertisers really need to remember when they market to moms. In my next post, I’ll focus on what I think they need to do to really reach us, not offend us.
