I went to Hallmark today to complete the last item on my Christmas shopping list: get cards. I have a handful of people to buy for so I like to choose individual, specific cards. I easily found cards for my best friend, another close friend, my best friend’s parents, and my dad & stepmom.
Now all I needed was a card for my mom - you’d think this would be a simple task, but you’d be wrong. So very wrong.
I find the “Mom” section while being run into by various rude shoppers. There are tons of generic “Mom” cards and some stuffy “Mother” cards and a few LARGE PRINT ones, in case your mom is a little older and has declining vision. There are six different types of “Mom from Son” cards and one type of “Mom from Daughter” card. One?! I’m beginning to see a pattern here… when I went to buy a Mother’s Day card and her birthday card it was the same situation - there will be one or two “Mom from Daughter” type cards and easily five “Mom from Son” cards. What the hell? The one or two “from Daughter” cards are always saccharine-sweet or just plain awful. The “from Son” cards OTOH are usually just right (I know, I’ve read them to confirm my suspicions). And usually each occasion I am bitterly disappointed when I think I’ve found the perfect card only to get to the last line of “with love from your Son.” Argh. Hallmark, why must it be this way? I’m forced to pick a generic “Mom” card when possible. Today I had to go for the more formal “Mother” card because the selection was so lacking.
I’ve read that the Earth’s population is 48% male and 52% female (no cite) if this is even remotely close to true why would Hallmark shun the majority? From my own trips to Hallmark I can see that most of their customers are women - a lot of these women probably still have living mothers. And yet we all get one “Mom from Daughter” type card, two if they’re really being generous. You’d think that Dr. Laura owned Hallmark by the way they run things.
Hmmm…maybe it’s not that Hallmark doesn’t make the cards, maybe it’s so many women buy the cards that the good ones are always sold out. It seems plausible to me, especially in that women (in general) are more likely to buy cards than men.
Of course, that should mean that the stores stock more of those cards, but I’ve found a surprisingly large number of stores don’t seem to really get the concept of inventory control.
Judging by all those syrupy commercials Hallmark makes, I think they believe that mothers and daughters spend every afternoon together in rustic New England farmhouses, chatting and sipping coffee while bathed in soft-focus golden amber light with the faint aroma of lilac scented candles wafting through the air, and thus don’t need cards to convey their innermost emotions to one another.
Oh, hang on. I was either thinking of a General Foods International Coffee commercial or one for ‘Summers Eve’. Never mind…
Lucretia, you’re probably right about the good cards being bought up early. I should have started looking for Christmas cards around Halloween time when they seem to start putting them out. I didn’t think I had waited too long, but apparently I did. I can find good cards for any other person, any occasion but this seems to be a recurring problem with Hallmark.
Otto, your idea is probably the best solution.
Inky-, that could be the Summers Eve commercial you’re thinking of but I believe they’re usually on a beach or strolling in a meadow. Maybe that’s a new one.
I went to the Hallmark Cards website and did a search under the “E-cards & Cards” section.
A search for “mother” came up with seven pages of results.
However, a search for “father” came up with less – only five pages of results.
A search for “daughter” turned up two pages of results, but a search for “son” came up with only one page.
That trend carried over if you searched the entire site:
114 results for “mother” in “Entire Site”
84 results for “father” in “Entire Site”
23 results for “daughter” in “Entire Site”
14 results for “son” in “Entire Site”
Me, too. People who cry “victim” on the slightest pretext.
:rolleyes:
Hallmark is evil? That would be my guess. They do a TON of business, all year long with all the holidays we celebrate. I think it’s a conspiracy and… someone sucks at inventory.
When you find a good card that ends in “with love from your son”, just dab a little White-Out on the offending text.
If your mom notices it, just tell her that you found the perfect card, but those sexist jerks at Hallmark tried to limit its use to men only. Of course, you stood firm, and did what you had to do to ensure that your mother WOULD have the card she deserved, regardless of the prejudices of a bunch of white male greeting-card writers!
Hallmark also thinks buying singing dancing snowmen will make your friends love you and guests flock to your house to look at the hilarity and joy. They are beyond help.
Oy vey. Lighten up. I didn’t “cry victim.” It was a lighthearted OP, albeit weak (hence the disclaimer). I don’t think I’m being oppressed by Hallmark or anything, I was just venting an annoyance.
Yes, ** Bad News Baboon** it could just be my local not-so-well-stocked store.
** Vlad Dracul **, I have contemplated that.
My apologies, Cajun Man. I didn’t think it was truly a Pit thread.
My own Hallmark–heck, any cardmakers–peeve is that of grandparents cards. My husband and I are blessed to be in our thirties with three of our grandparents alive and well, but almost every grandparent-themed card is clearly intended to be from the viewpoint of small children. Hey, what’s the average life expectancy in America? Doesn’t it make sense that a lot of these people hitting their seventies and eighties will have grown grandchildren? And that these grown grandchildren may desperately want to buy, say, a Father’s Day card that doesn’t have a fluffly little duckling on the front?
Oh, Slainte watch it----now Andy’s got you marked as one of those perfidious female victims, even though, you know, you didn’t claim to be victimized. Watch out.
I always used to just buy blank cards, myself. In my family, affection is best expressed through sarcasm.
I find that the hardest card to buy is the one for my sister. Approximately 99% of the “To My Sister” cards are clearly intended to be given by a woman. The one or two “To Sister From Brother” cards are always terribly dull. I usually end up buying a generic Christmas card for my sis.
It always takes me ages to find blank, seasonal-looking cards with no overt Christian symbolism on them. I’m a witch, okay? I’m not even a very picky one. Just find me a blank one or one with “season’s greetings” and a fucking poinsettia and we’ll go home. But noooooooooooooo. sigh
I’m looking at your thread title, and it says “Hallmark hates Daughters,” claiming hate is being directed at you because you’re a daughter. Even if you’re doing it “light hearted,” you’re still playing victim.
What’s worse jumping to that conclusion based on one experience in one store, rather than checking the facts. In fact, mothers and daughters are far better served by Hallmark, but you are far too self-absorbed to notice.
Not directed at the OP, but at the whole “Insert Relationship Here” trend in greeting cards:
Why does the card have to denote the exact relationship? If you send a card to your mother or your aunt-in-law or your third cousin’s dog-in-law, aren’t they going to know who you are and what your relationship is? Does your mother really need to have you identified in print as her daughter, and to be told that she is a mother?
Pretty sad that we (collectively) seem to have lost the ability to compose a few simple words to tell people that we love them. A personal note means so much more than a canned verse that went out to thousands of other people too.
