On Twitter, there’s a somewhat interesting organization for the area called AroundMainline. Their goal is to increase the visibility of companies and events on the Mainline – simple enough. They also publish an e-newsletter to go with their Twitter feed. They promote restaurant week, do giveaways and prizes, etc.
Today, they said:
AroundMainLine
One of our most amazing giveways EVER! Win a $500 Mother/Daughter day at Joseph Anthony Retreat Spa and Salon!… http://fb.me/WqVVwaPH
I read the details and went “well, that could be fun for me and my sister… but I’d better ask*, since I suspect they would say ‘no’ to that.” So I did, and had the following conversation:
rocza
@AroundMainLine Clarify: must it be mother/daughter duo that accepts/uses the prize?AroundMainLine
@rocza anyone can comment to win the day at the space but the prize is for a mother/daughter duo to experience, hope that helps!rocza
@AroundMainLine Clarifies. Unfollowing til after Mother’s Day. It’s insensitive, to say the least, to folks w/o mothers + other traditions
And to be honest, I probably won’t follow again, although who knows – I can be a bit flighty when it comes to things like that.
What’s the big deal? Well, a few things:
1. I get a bit tetchy when it comes down to the grand Mother’s Day push, given that whole “my mother is dead” thing. Having everything I look at or am exposed to via advertising or just having the gall to go to the store be all about CELEBRATE WITH MOM kind of irks because ya know? I don’t have that option.
2. You never see father/daughter giveaways like this for Father’s Day. Or father/son, mother/son, or sibling pairings. It’s not like “Sister’s Day” is going to roll around and you’re going to see someone offering a $500 spa package giveaway for two sisters to share.
3. Who’s to say that the sister and I doing a “mother’s day spa day” to honour the memory of the woman who gave birth to us is a bad thing, or an invalid way of celebrating a day dedicated to someone we can only honour in our memories? What am I supposed to do, win a $500 salon visit and take a ghost?
It’s the whole lack of balance thing. Yes, people who still have mothers who are alive are a special bunch – their mothers are still alive. Let’s try not to make what’s already a difficult thing even harder by rubbing it in with “special special people parties” versus “poor lil’ motherless children who never get invited to the fun.”
*Note: they clarified the contest after I asked my question on Twitter. It was initially left vague and non-specific.