SuperMom is Dead, Adage Reports
Adage says Supermom is dead. They are advising advertisers to stop putting Supermom in ads because the rest of us - so so parents keeping slightly cluttered house - hate her.
Former Letterman writer Jill Besnoy is at the front of the anti-perfection brigade. She created the website Honest Baby, where she sells baby products designed to put perfection in its place.
“Not sleeping through the night,” reads one of the tiny T-shirts she created. “10th percentile,” announces yet another tee, as radical as the old “Black is Beautiful.” By proudly embracing the wee one’s smallness compared with 90% of other babies, it crushes any comparisons crazed supermoms are aching to make. . . .
Today’s moms look at that hyper-intensity and cringe. That’s not what parenting is about for them (unless they love sewing). While parents will always compare and compete, now it’s a race to see who’s the most easygoing about their imperfect house, so-so parenting skills and average kids.
Finally something I can win at. Imperfection.
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POSTED IN: Fabulous Culture, Fabulous Mothering
4 opinions for SuperMom is Dead, Adage Reports
Susanna
Oct 30, 2007 at 7:46 am
This is kind of silly, but that’s why, for the longest time, I refused to use Aveeno lotion. The woman in their ad reminded me of the most annoying overachieving super-mom types I’d met. And then I bought some because it was on sale and discovered it did wonders for my stretch marks. Just goes to show how influenced I can be by advertising!
Tracee
Oct 30, 2007 at 8:00 am
I’m so influenced by advertising that I took a lower interest rate on my savings because ING’s Orange Dot makes me happy. Now that’s silly. Hating SuperMom - that’s just sane.
FeeFiFoto
Oct 30, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a real Supermom. I know women who work, raise children, attend school functions, whatever, but they all claim to feel unbalanced or inadequate in some way. Some people have labeled me a Supermom but I have my own inadequacies, just as everyone else does. I think Supermom is another fiction created by writers or publishers who have nothing better to talk about. Their motivation? I don’t know, but the result is always to make many of us feel bad.
Tracee
Oct 30, 2007 at 3:20 pm
I hear what you’re saying FeeFiFoto. When I sit down and really talk with these SuperMoms I always find some interesting price they are paying like that they sob every night through dinner or that they hate themselves and their life or something.
I know some women who try to look like SuperMom but it’s always at a price I don’t think is worth paying.
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