UK Marketers Need To Change Their Attitude Toward Mums

Brands need to change their attitudes towards UK mums, because they often consider them a stand-alone demographic in their marketing campaigns. This is what Saatchi & Saatchi suggests in research conducted on behalf of Mumsnet, which found that 19% of UK mums do not recognise themselves in adverts.

The report revealed that many of today’s representations of mothers are outdated. Today’s mums are more likely to be segmented based on traditional factors such as education, wealth and geography, rather than on the number of kids they have, their age and whether they work or not.

Both marketers and society need to alter their attitudes toward mothers and treat them like individual women. But what’s more important is that advertisers understand real mums and not just imagine who they are, the study highlights.

The research also notes that there are several myths surrounding modern mothers that advertisers are using to reach this audience. Among them is the perception that motherhood is a daily slog with occasional moments of fulfilment and pride. This sits alongside the myth that fathers just act as secondary figures in family life. However in reality, nearly 60% of mothers agree that they have the best time with their children, while 55% say that their partner is equally involved in parenting.

Finally, the report advises that if brands are to effectively target this audience they need to portray motherhood as enjoyable and fun while connecting with dads.