I've read numerous blog posts this week describing the importance of the 'fourth trimester' for newborns and unhurried post-partum recovery for their mothers. However I have to admit that whilst I totally agree with these blogs, I myself have singularly failed to enjoy an extended 'babymoon'.
Not that I wouldn't like to - you understand - it's just that I have a very energetic and demanding two year old, a husband who has to work, and no childcare. Sitting on the sofa luxuriating in my gorgeous newborn daughter whilst gently healing just isn't an option for me.
So, I've been out and about a bit more than I would ideally have liked at two weeks post-partum.
Whilst I'm happy to feed pretty much anywhere, I do need to change a nappy fairly often (!), and this brings me to the point of my post.
I had a pit-stop at the café in one of my all-time favourite shops today. Everything in it is GORGEOUS - from the products on the shop shelves right down to the café's milk jugs (if you'll pardon the pun..).
I had high expectations of their feeding/ changing room too...
On first glance I wasn't disappointed! It had a lovely pink sofa and muted lighting. There was a changing station and a sink. All lovely.
Then I had a look at the walls which were covered in retro adverts.
I took photos:
 |
| *nb. I've since discovered that this advert is actually in internet 'fake' - see comments |
Now - I like a good bit of irony.
However, (and maybe it's those pesky hormones again..), this is a room intended to be used by mothers with young children. Some of them so insecure about breastfeeding in public that they have chosen to hide in the subtly-lit feeding room to do it.
The ads on the wall - retro though they may be - are for cigarettes, carnation milk, baby food, and cola.
I find all kinds of things amusing - but not this. I can't see how - even under the guise of 'humour' - this can be appropriate?
What do you think?
(Please leave your comments below rather than on the group wall as I intend bringing this blog to the shop's attention. Thanks.)
Oh my goodness! what a wonderful exercise this would be if they had a sign saying something like "How times have changed! What do you think about these adverts?" and have a big board on the wall with a marker pen on a string so that mums can leave their thoughts. That would be social art, a place to leave opinions and suggestions for other mums and be a brilliant PR stunt for the cafe. As it is, all they've achieved is to put outrageously unhealthy messages in a room for mothers with babies - and whilst I do credit mums with a bit of intelligence to know these are not current adverts, I just can't see what on earth this cafe was thinking they might achieve?!
ReplyDeleteI can see where you are coming from, but I have actually really found them fascinating to look at. Yikes, haven't times changed?! I wonder what people will think of Aptimal adverts in 80 years? I wouldn't have said they were inappropriate, more highlight the wacky practises of yesteryear.
ReplyDeleteCould you imagine the mother who looks up and says "I didnt know coca cola was good for my baby! Better go grab some"
ReplyDeleteI know - baby makes 3 - but does that make it appropriate?
ReplyDeleteMaddie - great suggestion - I hope they take it on board!
@emily - agree also - they are historically v interesting but perhaps something along the lines of what Maddie suggested would make it 'work'? As it is it's just serving as a reminder of how far from the cultural norm bf got. I personally find that a v disappointing thing to put in a feeding room without something to balance it out.
Wow! I gotta admit the ones for cigarettes & coke really threw me! "Go ahead, light up & throw some coke in your babies bottle!" Crazy!!!
ReplyDeleteGods NO. I thought that these must honestly be spoofs until I saw the Carnation one which clearly isn't.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely disgusting that these are in a baby feeding room. Clearly mums aren't going to suddenly start sticking coke in a baby bottle but that's not the point. It's not big, it's not clever and it's just not funny.
I can't believe the cola one is real. They didn't just make that up and are actually playing a game called "which one of these is false?"
ReplyDeleteNo. I don't like these at all. I accept that this is the past, but the past is where they should stay. Some poeple are so easily influenced and by seeing these been presented in this manner may make some poeple think that it is acceptable to smoke infront of your children or give them cola at a young age etc. Why not invest in pictures of babies breast feeding or animals, something a little more acceptable and child friendly.
ReplyDeleteThe person who called the cola one a fake is right! Just found out this has been fooling people for a while... http://rjwhite.tumblr.com/post/472668874/fact-checki
ReplyDeleteStill - the others seem a lot more plausible (and who would risk faking a Gerber ad?), and the whole concept still seems inappropriate to me!
As Emily Cross said, I wonder how people will look at Aptamil adverts in 80 years. Or even whether mothers now might start to look at contemporary adverts a bit more critically if the cafe went with DoulaMaddie's idea? It might make a few more people question the formula companies' claims - motives haven't changed that much in the world of advertising and big business, just that the adverts themselves have got more subtle...
ReplyDeleteControversially, I thought they were funny and kitsch!
ReplyDeleteSurely anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that these are very old posters and not genuine advertisments aimed at today's parents.
Maybe I have a sick sense of humour but after feeding my nearly 8 month old four times last night, I'm just glad it's still there.
I have been in this shop, and I was amazed by them. I brought my husband in to read them while babies nappy was getting changed. I think its hilarious what marketing exec think they can teach us. (They have some of the best scones I have ever tasted )
ReplyDeleteYes - sense of humour essential for night feeds (my last dd did 2 hourly feeds until 14m!) :-O I have to say again that I also find these ads historically v interesting! BUT surely DoulaMaddie is right in that there has been a huge missed opportunity here for interaction with the users of the room? As it currently stands I maintain that the artwork is stagnant and inappropriate for a mother and baby feeding/ changing room.
ReplyDeleteThe adverts are amusing, but I do think they could have had some more constructive information. The problem is that to mums who don't know better, the posters just don't help. Cola? Seriously?!
ReplyDeleteI find these fascinating. I love things retro and find old beliefs and ways of doing things very interesting. Hopefully the people who come into contact with them will see the irony.....
ReplyDeleteThe only positive i can see is that bottle feeding is subtely being mocked as just as ridiculous as 'babies need coke' and 'mommies needs smokes'!! Perhaps if there was some heading which clearly put them all in the same category ? exactly like WHAT WERE THEY THINKING or JUST CRAZY. then maybe a nursing mom could sit and feel proud and empowered that she knows not to do anything on the wall! Still thats probably only true of more confident women so on the whole probably not the place for these pics.
ReplyDelete