An exploration of the unpaid, hidden, emotional, practical, and financial labour of what it takes to be a modern mother.
On your feet, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no breaks, no vacations, and no pay – a job that many would class as ridiculously unreasonable, and yet, as Hallmark highlights: it is the norm for mothers across the world.
A playful and powerful advert, Hallmark aptly demonstrates why motherhood is the ‘World’s Toughest Job’. Shown through a series of interviews for a ‘Director of Operations’, the interviewer lists a series of increasingly ridiculous requirements. From being ‘constantly on your feet’ to requiring a degree in ‘medicine, finance, and the culinary arts’, all with a ‘happy disposition’, it fantastically demonstrates the mental and physical toll placed on modern mothers.
Yet though entertaining, the tongue-in-cheek advert is ultimately just that: an advert. As noted by Paul Grainge, Professor of Film and Television Studies, it is a perfect example of the evolution of modern marketing into 'branded entertainment'.
Professor Paul Grainge
In the past Hallmark might have chosen to make a 30-second commercial that would have sat between television programmes. But clearly, the model and the media environment we live in is different to that. People don't really watch commercial breaks, they ad skip.
Paul Grainge
Professor of Film and Television Studies
It is a form “all about the hidden labour of motherhood, the unpaid, hidden, emotional, practical, financial labour of what it takes to be a parent and what it takes to be a mother. I think historically in terms of gender expectations around parents: the father and the sort of old, traditional breadwinning role you can see, the labour is costed in salary, but the mother is doing equal numbers of hours, equal numbers of responsibilities, but it's unpaid. So this is very much to me, a more modern contemporary understanding of unpaid labour and what that takes.”
And it's not just Hallmark which has hit the nail on the head when it comes to the unpaid struggle of motherhood. Shows such as Fleabag and Motherland also demonstrate the difficulties of motherhood, whilst also highlighting that it’s not just the task of raising children, but a balancing act which also takes into account all the other struggles life entails: caring for parents, going to work, maintaining a social life.
Ultimately, there is a symbiotic relationship between modern marketing and television, and culture. Though this branded entertainment is intended to entertain, it also celebrates motherhood and highlights the complex nature of the role not just as a mother, but as an individual with their pressures and challenges.
Professor of Film and Television Studies, Paul Grainge, contributed to this article.
