Mother’s Day spending to reach £600m

Brits are set to spend £600 million on Mother’s Day this year, an increase of 3.4% from 2017, according to new research.

Mintel research found that extra spending could be attributed to advertising making most mothers pressured to be perfect.

Three-quarters (73%) of mothers agree that adverts make parenting look easier than it is, while the same proportion of mums (73%) agree that adverts too often ignore the difficult parts of being a parent.

Jack Duckett, senior consumer lifestyles analyst at Mintel, said: “While the advertising industry is working hard to move away from gender stereotypes, it is clear that many parents still find that the representation of mums and dads in advertising is out of sync with reality. With many mothers today more likely to return to work than any previous generation, depictions of housewives are starting to feel old-fashioned and irrelevant.

“Given the challenges parents face today, overly rosy campaigns can exacerbate worries that they are not doing a good enough job. While brands shouldn’t move away from focusing on good parenting in their campaigns, a more realistic approach that also reflects the difficulties of being a mum or a dad could help engage with today’s parents.”