I have never really been big into Sears – it always seemed old-school, not cool, and not “like me.” I’ve been eating my words lately though – between the Kardashian Kollection, and their latest Kenmore marketing campaign.
Have you seen the latest Sears commercial yet?
I have to say, I was stunned (in the best way possible!) when I saw this a few weeks ago:
And when I was searching for that video for this post, I found this older spot:
Notice anything superawesome about these two videos?
BABYWEARING!
I have to hand it to the marketing department at Sears (and whatever agency they use for their spots) for featuring babywearing so prominently in their commercials. My background is in marketing, so I’ve been in TV commercial strategy meetings with ad agencies. There are long discussions about what to feature, how to portray the product, exactly what the actors should look like, etc., all down to the tiniest detail. So this was a conscious decision for Sears, and I have to give them much credit.
I am so excited about this, I’ll try to ignore the out-facing baby in the second commercial (not good for the baby – read here) – and just appreciate that they are showing babywearing in a mainstream commercial!
Benjamin looooves being in any one of our <gulp> 5 carriers. :-)
So, snaps to Sears for showing a little piece of attachment parenting in a positive light…
Unlike Time magazine for making attachment parents look like freaks and putting a negative connotation on the phrase, “attachment parenting,” [This is exactly why I hate using that term to describe some of our parenting choices.] and honestly, a negative connotation on breastfeeding too. By negatively portraying people "on the fringe” of BFing (we don’t all BF up to elementary school!), they degrade the entire practice, which is a huge setback. Moms need support, not people criticizing their positive choices!
I picture a new mom on the fence about BFing – seeing negative portrayals of BFing, such as a sensationalistic photo of BFing a 3-year-old may lead her to question if BFing a baby is weird too. Showing your average mom nursing a baby would have been a better, and more realistic choice. I love ice cream, but I wouldn’t choose a picture of a morbidly obese person to depict one of my favorite foods!
Okay, would I BF until my children are 3? Definitely not. Have I had my own conversations about it being a little strange? Yes. But after squirming through an uncomfortable conversation about the Time article at a party this past weekend, I wondered what the party guests would think about my plans to BF for a year or a little over. Despite the fact that science is more than on my side, I think these women would have thought it strange, and the article certainly doesn’t help portray my choice in a positive way.
The woman who started the conversation, with a scornful-toned-comment, “Did you see that Time magazine article? UGH!” has no children and is past child-bearing years – I assume she probably doesn’t know much about the benefits of BFing in general. The Time Magazine article is where she learned what she knows, which is really unfair. Another person said, “The boy on the cover is not even a baby anymore!” True, true. But Benjamin could easily start walking in the next few months, at which point, he’s really a toddler (because he’ll be toddling!), and not a baby, but I’ll still continue as planned. It’s something I’m usually proud of, but at that moment in the conversation, I kept my mouth shut, embarrassed to say anything.
And I’ve been kicking myself for not speaking up ever since, hence today’s word vomit on the topic!
Anyway, that’s a whole lot more than I planned on saying about Time (I started with one sentence only!), so that’s all for now!
In short, yay to Sears, and thumbs down, Time!
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