Why do we send these cards?
Mar 8 2008 by Nichola Craig, The Journal
WHY is the UK the world’s biggest buyer of greetings cards? The ever-vigilant manufacturers invent new niche markets that we help along by rushing to buy cards for pets, stepmothers, divorcing couples, and now even adulterous lovers.
Last week’s Mothering Sunday is a particular case in point. Twelve million Mothers’ Day cards were delivered in the UK this year. You can buy Mothers’ Day cards for single mothers, girlfriends, grandmothers, stepmothers and aunts. Every year a new angle is found to exploit, and we are all too willing to pay up.
Yet the day itself is a mid-Lent religious celebration. The way in which the greetings card industry has twisted the occasion into a frenzy of merchandise is extraordinary.
Along with the Mothers’ Day cards there are over-priced bouquets, chocolates, and champagne jostling for position in local supermarkets. Pubs and restaurants are crammed with families on the day contemplating the “special” menu with which to honour their mothers.
The sentiment behind this commercialised beanfeast is honourable. The way in which we are encouraged to spend ever-greater sums on cards and associated merchandise for a growing number of celebrations, however, is frightening.
Lurching from Christmas to Valentine’s Day, Mothers’ Day, Easter, Fathers’ Day, birthdays, anniversaries, sorry you’re leaving, happy you’re staying, well done, commiserations, costs us all a small fortune. It is also an environmental disaster area, worth a good few forests each year.
Many companies have now stopped sending Christmas cards to donate money to charities instead. It works, saving time and stress for employees, and benefiting many good causes. A similar strategy could be adopted for your nearest and dearest, substituting over-priced cards for a personal letter, a visit or a telephone call. Paring back the mass-produced gloss to reveal the real reason you want to get in touch is bound to make the message more memorable.
I doubt, however, there is much we can do to stop the juggernaut of jolly greetings. There’s something about our essential reserve and the ability of a card to convey a mix of warmth and emotion that bridges a British gap. Many of us find it easier to express emotion by buying a card than by putting across feelings in our own words.
Because of that, we lead even America in our love of cards. As a business, greetings card production is a winner. As a method of communication it’s a costly cop-out.
Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm
