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You are a Mom-fluential - does it make you mad?

Categories: Just for moms, Money & work

I've worked in advertising for several years now, so it's no surprise to me that marketers are looking to target Moms. One PR agency has even coined a custom term for the women it deems so critical to its clients marketing success: "Mom-fluentials."

Moms control a lot of the household spending, and today so many of them are online. What these women say and recommend are often considered much more convincing to other Moms than a nameless TV ad or radio spot. I may be a little biased on this topic because of the work I do, but my feeling is: pitch away to me. I'll ignore what I don't want and ultimately base my buying decisions on need, price and quality. I don't particularly care if a corporation markets to me with the assumption that I want to look sexy while hoofing a vacuum around the house, I'll just think "that's idiotic" and buy the brand next to it.

I've been following the controversy on BlogHer swag with much interest. For those of you who don't know: BlogHer holds a very popular blogging Conference every summer, complete with corporate sponsors looking to get inside the brain (and pocketbook) of bloggers and their readers. But apparently some of them are missing the mark.

I am especially intrigued by this post at Plain Jane Mom, where Plain Jane expresses her disdain for a sponsor at last week's conference who provided branded pot holders as part of their freebie gear. She believes that marketers who ply women with domestic household items (particularly at a somewhat technical conference) are missing the mark to the point of being offensive. She notes that "companies who hear "woman" and think "apron" make my blood boil ."

The comments that follow are supremely interesting, with many of Plain Jane's readers expressing agreeement for the insensitivity of advertisers looking to reach their coveted audience. I'm not so sure. I don't think there's anything sexist about giving a woman a pot holder as a freebie -- I wouldn't really be offended if a company gave out condoms, or barrettes or even Crocs, for the love of Pete. I'd probably just give them away.

How about you, Moms? Are you offended when an advertiser pegs you as a domestic sort because you have kids? I feel like I'm missing something.


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