Apple Pie in the Face

Mothers & More presented its second Apple Pie in the Face Award to Euro RSCG Worldwide, a marketing communications agency, in June/July of 2004 for its misguided and irresponsible "new categories of modern-day moms."

Mothers everywhere let Euro RSCG know they were fed up with condescending stereotypes of mothers by:

• Sending Euro RSCG Worldwide an e-mail. (Mothers & More provided some sample copy to help get mothers and others started)
• Sending a letter to Euro RSCG Worldwide's clients. (Mothers & More provided client contact information and some sample copy to help get mothers and others started)
• Helping us "present" our Apple Pie in the Face Award to Euro RSCG by sending Euro RSCG a pie (the address for sending the pies was provided)
• Helping Mothers & More with its Advertising Watch. Mothers and others concerned about the way mothers were portrayed in the media were given the seven deadly stereotypes of mothers that was created for the 2004 Mother's Day Campaign and asked to let Mothers & More know if/when they spotted these stereotypes.

Why Were Mothers Infuriated?

Read Euro RSCG Worldwide's press release that made them "worthy" of Mothers & More's Apple Pie in the Face Award: "The New Moms: As America Celebrates Mother's Day, Euro RSCG Worldwide Releases Findings on Five New Categories of Modern-Day Moms."

We try to teach our kids about stereotypes and why they are bad, but who is correcting the advertising industry when they invent and then try to sell negative stereotypes?

Euro RSCG's "study" on moms claims that they have discovered "five new categories" of mothers that can be marketed to. They are suggesting that perhaps their clients could sell more cars, candy, computers and a long list of other consumer goods if they tapped into these new categories.

Read our press release

Latest Marketing Buzz: Anti-Mom Firm Out of Touch With Mother Markets. Mothers & More Gives Apple Pie in the Face Award to Euro RSCG

Read our letter to the company for the details

Dear Euro RSCG Worldwide:

Congratulations! Your firm is the recipient of Mothers & More's Apple Pie in the Face Award, which calls attention to acts that divide mothers or trivialize the struggles mothers face in balancing caregiving with their other needs and responsibilities.

Mothers & More is a national women's organization dedicated to improving the lives of mothers through support, education and advocacy, with over 7,000 members and 180 chapters coast to coast. Our members - well educated, professional women who are the primary decision makers for their families' purchases, big and small - represent a very important target market for many of your client companies.

We read with disgust and incredulity the press release your firm sent out in May, announcing your “five new categories of modern-day moms.” In an era where mothers and others are seeking more reality-based advertising and media, your “findings” about mothers, portraying them as neurotic caricatures, seem bizarrely unreal and anachronistic.

Unlike other market segmentation reports we have seen about the “mom market” from other firms, RSCG's report is notable in its overwhelmingly negative approach to these mom categories. Domestic Divas “pay lip service to being the...‘perfect mom,’ but in reality she simply wants the appearance of it - and the accolades that follow.” Yummy Mummies “consider them (their little darlings) a part-time hobby more than a full-time job. Equal energy goes toward maintaining their cute figures, staying a step ahead of the latest styles, and enjoying the nightlife-in and outside the bedroom...” Mini-Me Moms consider “children... fashion accessories, dolls to be dressed up and showcased for all the world to see.” THESE terms describe, to quote your EVP and Chief Strategy Officer, Marian Salzman, women who are striving to “ ...depart from tradition to forge life paths that work for them”????

And there's more. Ms. Salzman further concludes that there is a widening “chasm... between moms who work outside the home and those who don't. Rather than act as allies in the ongoing battle against sexism and inequalities in the workplace, these women are more likely to be at each other's throats.”

These broad, sweeping generalizations are apparently based on an online survey of only 1,982 adults. Of course, how the respondents were solicited and specific questions and answers from this survey were not offered. The press release does offer up one Q & A, which alone makes the report's “findings” suspect:

Survey takers were asked to respond to a statement “men and women are both entitled to expect regular sex of their partners.” That 62% of women respondents answered “yes” vs. 76% of male respondents, led the survey analysts to conclude that this indicates a “trend of women focusing on self to the exclusion of others.”

Such irrelevant pretzel logic on this Q&A (which RSCG chose to highlight) begs the question, does this report make any serious attempt to interpret how mothers manage their lives and make choices for themselves and their families, or was this survey just a “hook” to enable you to put your own “brand” on the over-exposed, over the top and oh-so-'90s “mommy wars?”

Haven't you heard the buzz, RSCG?

Mothers are fed up with negative, stereotyping marketing that attempts to manipulate us through divisiveness, competitiveness and creating feelings of insecurity. We are through with letting marketing and advertising firms tell us who we are, who we aren't and what “camp” we're in. Mothers seek consumer products and companies that respect our intelligence, our real needs and the importance, complexity and just plain hard work that ALL of us do, day in and day out, as the primary caregivers of our families. We look for marketing that recognizes our realities and individuality, that celebrates our work and that strives to improve our lives rather than add to our burdens.

We wonder, are your new categories of moms meant to help inform your clients about mothers' real lives and real wants and needs, or are they simply meant to create a buzz about Euro RSCG itself? We can tell you the buzz that these categories have created among mothers across the US: Stay away from any clients that use Euro RSCG!

We are posting this letter on our website with a number of ways for mothers to respond to your report, your mom categories and such negative, manipulative marketing and advertising. And we are sending you an apple pie. Please apply directly to your faces. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Joanne Brundage
Executive Director
Mothers & More

Results

Most of the Euro RSCG Worldwide’s clients that Mothers & More contacted responded distancing themselves from the company and their survey.

Euro RSCG removed all evidence of the press release that inspired the “award” from their website.