Mother’s day, which most recently landed on the 26th of March this year, has been a celebratory day for mothers since the 20th Century. While known as Mother’s Day in the USA, where the event was originated by Anna Jarvis, the term regularly used in the UK is Mothering Sunday, where the special event has religious connotations. Despite the day being traditionally perceived as a day of gratitude for mothers worldwide, marketing companies seem to be taking advantage of the event.

While homemade gifts, such as Simnel cake, were conventional attributes of the day, the modern age sees the increased use of manufactured cards and presents. Not only does this potentially remove the emotional or gratuitous aspect, but increases the revenue for large companies, with the ‘City AM’ website predicted that the UK would spend £928 million on mother’s day.

This begs the question; is Mother’s day still a festival of celebration, or an event that is increasingly being tailored to large business companies to profit from?

By Nafisa Ehsan, Woodford County High School