So awesome
May 9, 2008 Adoption
This kills me. From America’s Favorite Mom, these are the categories:
The Military mom
She’s either far from home, the wife of a soldier, or works at home on her own to support our troops. She is a hero to her kids.
The Working mom
She works away or at home, all the while managing to balance career and family. Quite a feat.
The Single mom
She’s raising her child alone, whether by circumstances or by choice. Whatever happens, the buck stops with her.
The non-mom mom
Grandparent, stepmom, or mom to adopted children, each one raising and loving a child. A priceless gift for everybody.
The COE “Chairman of Everything” mom
She’s the “soccer mom.” She gave up her career to raise her family. Chauffeur, cook, tutor, nurse — she does it all.
The non-mom mom! Oh my gosh, mother’s day is a minefield to be sure but I can’t believe this made it out of their marketing meeting! Good job, NBC! Way to blow it! (Personally I don’t care so much about this what with HB 7 going down and issues like that to drive me nutty but you can imagine someone has a furious letter writing campaign going on about it!)
May 9th, 2008 at 10:29 am
WOW.
Very interesting.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Wow. Don’t they have editors or something?
May 9th, 2008 at 11:53 am
What clueless jerks.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
You’ll notice that one of the non-mom moms was described as having “one of her own” plus a bunch of “meth babies”. Whoa, talk about stereotypes!
May 9th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Blech.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
As I said on Erin’s blog,
Gag!
Does this mean the children are NON-sons, NON-daughters, NON-cousins, NON-nephews, NON-nieces, and NON-grandchildren?
Am I a half-mother because I half my children were born to me and half were adopted by me? Are my children NON-brothers and NON-sisters?
And what does this whole ‘favorite mom’ thing mean for first moms? I cannot believe it.
Does anyone have emails for NBC and Teleflora?
May 9th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
this could be helpful, actually- on days my 3 yr old is fussy, i can just relax because, hey, if i’m not really a mom, then this isn’t really happening.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
They must have changed the wording since you posted. Now it says “The Adopting Mom” although there is still that “meth babies” comment. Ugh indeed.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Oh, never mind. The wording is changed on the homepage but is still on the program guide and other pages.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I didn’t realize you all knew about this already when I started my angry letter writing campaign!
May 9th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I got an email via mothers and more about this and by the time I checked, they’d changed the wording. But I was also more offended by the “one of her own + meth babies” headline.
Gah.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Aside from the ridiculously offensive Non-mom thing, the COE catagory is the Chairman of Everything category - duh! They could at least have said chairwoman of everything.
The whole thing is horrible and divisive.
Boo hiss.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Now they have an apology up there, too.
So maybe now we should all email them about the “her own and six meth babies” bit.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
My name is Jennifer, and I work with Edelman (www.edelman.com) on behalf of Teleflora
May 9th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I just did, let’s see what they say now.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Thanks for the hat tip! Adoptive moms did inundate NBC, Teleflora and the other sponsors with angry e-mails today, but I thought it was awful in general…stepmothers, grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren, etc., deserve a lot better than this. Unfortunately, there aren’t as many resources for stepmoms to spread the word, like there are for adoptive moms. I also thought the one of her own vs. the meth babies thing was really evil. Way to go, corporate America.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Let me try this again. My post was cut off before… My name is Jennifer, and I work with Edelman (www.edelman.com) on behalf of Teleflora’s “America’s Favorite Mom” program. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about this issue.
After closer examination, Teleflora recognized how this may have been offensive to moms who have adopted children… moms who are indeed real moms in every sense of the word. This show of insensitivity was in no way intended and Teleflora offers its deepest apology. It was always Teleflora’s intent to salute and celebrate all moms.
Please know that in response the concerns expressed, Teleflora immediately changed the name of the “Non-Mom” category to “Adopting Moms,” which has already been posted on the “semi-finalist” page at http://www.AmericasFavoriteMom.com.
I thought you might want to know. On behalf of Teleflora, I hope you have a very happy Mother’s Day.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
@jennifer.almer:
What about the “meth babies” comment? That’s even more offensive because you’re labeling kids. And the oh-too-common “own” daughter. Making the other kids, what, the help?
May 9th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
The writing is an oversight. I will recommend to the Web team that they change the verbiage, as I understand why it might be offensive. I may not be able to get a response tonight (as it’s late here), but I promise the email is going out now!
May 9th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
@jennifer.almer:
Jennifer, seeing as how it’s midnight here on EST, no matter which time zone you’re writing from, I don’t envy you the job of picking up this mess. (And I know it’s not Edelman’s deal — I’m assuming the copy came from someone on their staff.) Hope your weekend gets easier and thanks for coming by to talk to us.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Jennifer, it’s impressive you’ve commented. Thank you.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Hi Ladies,
We were successful in having the lead in changed. Please note that the verbiage used to describe Jennifer’Keller’s situation with her children was modeled from her original nomination. Hope that this reads better. http://www.americasfavoritemom.com/mothers-day-2008/static/semiFinalists
Again, thanks for your input on everything and we truly apologize for this situation. We’re doing our best to remedy what we can at this stage.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:56 am
I notice that non-bio lesbian mothers don’t get included in the non-mom category
And as a non-American, I’m struck by how ‘military mom’ tops the list and gets a category of its own.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Suzoz,
What about having a category for “Military Mom” strikes you so? I think all the categories are rather artificial and limiting. Most mothers I know couldn’t be pigeon-holed into ANY of them.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I understand your perspective on the categories. However, if you talk to the women who were nominated in the “military mom” category, they’re actually extremely proud of it! I didn’t make up the categories, but we’ve been talking to all of the semi-finalists involved on the phone and they’re all thrilled to be a part of the program. Again, all of your comments are completely legitimate. We’re providing the feedback to Teleflora, and they will take all of it into consideration for future initiatives. Thanks!
May 10th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Jennifer,
Your category still doesn’t not make sense. You renamed the category to “adoptive moms” but you include NON-adoptive moms in there. MAKES. NO. SENSE.
Meanwhile… I see that once AGAIN mothers who relinquished children for adoption aren’t included ANYwhere. NOT EVEN IN YOUR “Non-mom” category. LOVELY. Where do WE fit?
This entire thing is insulting to ALL adoption triad members: adoptees, making them feel less than bio kids; adoptive mothers, refusing to acknowledge the permanency and legality of their motherhood; and first moms (moms who relinqiush children), by not even noticing we EXIST.
How is this going to be fixed?
May 10th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Sorry, first line of comment should have read “Your category still doesn’t make sense.”
May 11th, 2008 at 7:52 am
I live such a sheltered existence! Holy-moly! This is incredible and I would have thought made up if not coming from you. I didn’t even go deeper into profiles to find the “meth babies.” I am so sad for the world right now. This gives me a lot to think about.
But, Happy Mother’s Day to you Dawn!
May 11th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Brittany,
it’s striking that the military plays such a big role in American society. From the outside it seems like a very militarised society. In neither of the countries I’ve lived in would ‘military mother’ be a big enough group to warrant its own category in something like this.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Suzoz,
Hmm. Ok. I just wondered. It could be that we just have a bigger military. (I don’t know what countries you’re talking about, I’m simply guessing.) Maybe also, being that the US is engaged in an ongoing war, the public has military families more on the brain, ya know? My husband is military, so I guess I’d fall into the Military Mom category. I was kind of surprised to see it as a designation, too. I don’t like the way that site/campaign/PR/whatever broke down the motherhood spectrum at all, but it is nice to think that people who aren’t in the military might consider the unique situations a military parent would face. Much like, I think, it’s good to see people putting thought and consideration into first moms.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
The AFM contest was a huge blessing in our family’s life! I got to meet some other extraordinary mothers. The words “meth babies” never was said by me or my husband in his nomination of me but unfortunately is the truth about my children which we are very open and honest with. Their 3 birth mothers are addicts and also loved very much by our family and we are also helping all 3 of them and supporting them with rehabilitation and “life” in general. Unless you know us, our story or just what a blessing in disguise this evil drug “meth” has had in our lives, it’s not right to judge. I am an advocate and public speaker for drug endangered children as well as an advocate for their mothers who support me whole heartedly despite the negative press/blogs people are saying about me and this contest and that is all I really care about is pleasing God, my family, and my children. Let’s not get so caught up in “political correctness” and instead recognize the good in people and try to help others as much as we can. All this was started by a sweet late night letter from my dear husband nominating me as a favorite mom. He was trying to recognize his wife whom he is proud of. And now, praise God, I have won $10,000 to start a foundation to help drug endangered chilldren. I hope you all have a blessed day!