Do single fathers expect Happy Mother’s day cards?
Hallmark’s Mahogany Brand creates greeting cards specifically designed for African-American consumers. For this Father’s Day, they created 66 culturally relevant designs for African-Americans, and a few of these celebrated Black mothers. With 2 out of 3 Black homes solely ran by an African-American women, was Hallmark’s decision a good business choice, or an insult to African-Americans everywhere?
Hallmark spokesperson Kristi Ernsting said that Hallmark started selling these types of cards at the request of customers.
“Hallmark has long offered “Happy Father’s Day, Mom” and “Happy Mother’s Day, Dad” cards in our lines,” she says. “It’s a common request for people who have lost a parent and want a way to express to their living parent that he/she has been both mother and father to them.”
Tonya Bryant, a single mother and Hallmark customer, believes in the value of Father’s Day cards for single moms, she doesn’t agree with Hallmark’s decision to market them almost exclusively to the African-American community.
I don’t think that it’s appropriate for Hallmark to sell all of these cards under their Mahogany line because they are, in essence, saying that only black people live in single parent homes, which is the furthest thing from the truth,” she said. They are cheapening the great idea of celebrating single moms on Father’s Day by offering these products to mostly African-Americans. In this day and age, there are people from all walks of life that don’t have fathers in the homes, and I think that they should reconsider their marketing strategies and just offer them to people of all colors.
Are these cards racist or revolutionary?
