The untapped niche: Lazy Mom.
I am sick to death of busy mom. She's in all the commercials mopping, cooking, vacuuming, Bounty'ing up messes. She's the target market for seemingly every product under the sun. When I was shopping for a new phone recently, I even saw a reference to 'busy soccer moms' in the Blackberry ad. You thought Blackberrys were just for businessmen? Hell no, now mom can email her scrapbook buddies when Jo-Ann has paper crafts on sale. I know this woman must be a real woman, if they made a demographic out of her, but she isn't the entirety of motherhood.
I think that's why Sex And The City resonates with so many women, it is full of booze, sex, drugs, and shoes. You know, the important stuff. And the fact that most men can't stand it? Just an added bonus. Too bad the fun all ends once you put your uterus to good use. Then you have a choice:
- Put on your khaki capris and start dusting. Then dust harder! Faster! More often!
- Resign yourself to being 'that mom' and get used to being gossip fodder.
The busy mom niche has obviously jumped the shark. So who is going to step up and cater to the needs of us lazy moms? I'm sure it is a VAST (in more ways than one) market just waiting to be catered to. I mean, lazy moms are ... inherently lazy, right? So use that weakness to your advantage marketer gurus. You think you can sell products as 'quick, easy, effortless' to OCD moms? Just wait until you venture forth into lolling-on-the-couch mom land.
I like spotless windows and folded laundry just as much as the next woman, but the neurotic woman on her knees cleaning the bathroom is not what we aspire to be, darlings. She's probably doped up on antidepressants anyway, to fill the gaping void where her reason for living used to be.
A commercial where the kids are scrubbing the bathroom while mom sips on a martini in the tub? I'll buy it, whatever it is you're selling. I mean, I gave birth to them, shouldn't they at least make themselves useful?
Update: Apparently CNN has gotten in on the busy mom action with a SPECIAL REPORT, gag. Helpful tips on how to get more done! Chores! Errands! Meals! Guess the ride ends here if you're a busy mom. Me? I'll be hiding out on the porch swing, nursing my mojito and catching up on my RSS feeds. Please don't divulge my location, I'll make you a drink too.
7 comments:
One day I hope to be a lazy mom :)
My sister let playground mafia get to her and has turned into a neurotic mom.
They couldn't handle the fact that she was a young mum with a husband and was also really pretty.
Great post...It's so nice to know that I'm not the only one that gave birth to her slaves. See, it's a new revolution...:)
Ugh, the playground mafia, aka the yard duty ladies. They can't stand it when you take the time to groom yourself and look like you're enjoying your life. They are usually more childish than the kids they are supervising.
And I agree with a revolution of industrious children. I see kids shows and books and video games, all teaching kids how much fun it is to clean, tidy, and polish, hooray!
Hey! June Cleaver Vacuumed in pearls!
You are right though - it seems with more conviniences we have enslaved the housewife more and more - who woulda thunk it?
Love the graphic (for obvious reasons). Just remember that the marketers are selling an image. Some moms like to look busy even when they're not. Smoke and mirrors. Bullshit!
In this day and age, I don't think anyone should get straddled with housework that doesn't get paid for it. With all the illegals in this country, you can get a housecleaner for next-to-nothing, and whatever the thing, next-to-nothing is always worth it.
I hate how in every commercial the guy is always a fucking tool (not even a power one) that couldn't dress himself or wipe the drool from his chin if not for the chick in his life that tells him how to be a human being. Nowhere is gender stereotyping more obnoxious than in product marketing.
And yeah, only gay men like Sex and the City, and even then, they have to be really, really gay.
Yeah the guy is always taking a nap or have their hand down their pants. Most guys I know are neater and more organized than girls so that never made sense to me.
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