The Media Makes Mom’s Look Unrealistic
March 2nd, 2008 · Notebook ·
I have a problem. Then again, who doesn’t right? But I really have a problem. It’s the media. I don’t know if this has ever been brought up before, but have you ever watched a commercial where the mom is out somewhere with her kids? Let’s take the grocery store for example. Our local Shop Rite shows commercials of moms out with their kids all the time. Nothing wrong with that right?
But wait!!
Those mom’s are dressed like they just walked out of a photo shoot! Nothing possibly wrong with that either, right? Well, here’s my issue. In the real world…you’ll never see every mother dressed like that. If you come to my town, or area, whatever the case may be, 95% of mom’s here look like they just got out of bed. Or have been walking around in their pajama’s all day. You might be thinking, “Ew!” but you know what? Not all of us want to dress like a supermodel before we drag our kids out somewhere where we know we’ll just end up chasing them around anyway.
Like me. My three year old makes me chase him up and down every store I take him to. Bad parenting? No. Out of control since he was born child is more like it. Yes, I may need to try harder at making him listen, I admit that, but I’m not going to dress for the Oscars just to be messed up and torn apart by a screaming, kicking baby who thinks he is Flash Gordon.
So you see my what I mean? We’re not all dressed to kill for every occasion and the media wants everyone to think we are or should be. It just doesn’t work that way people!!
What are your thoughts?
I'm Jen, and I'm a twenty-five year old WAHM and freelance web designer. This is my personal weblog and mini online collective. Welcome! 
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I always look like I just got out of bed
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
If I have a clean shirt, matching socks and lip gloss on, I consider myself ready to be seen in public. Everything beyond that, I owe to extra time or luck/
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I am the queen of jeans, tees, and no makeup! Of course the media is all wrong. Not only do the moms look great, but the children are perfectly behaved and everything is perfect! It is all very unrealistic.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:45 pm
It’s true, I’m not a mom, but it’s true, advertising, media and all sorts of promotions display mom’s in such a different life than what is truly reality.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:10 pm
There is a woman in my town who just happens to be reporter on a local TV station. I often see her at the stores with her 2 young daughters and she is always wearing stilettos….I cannot even imagine even walking with my daughters while wearing stilettos (can’t really imagine wearing such uncomfortable shoes at all!)
Anyway, she always looks so awkward and uncomfortable, I feel sorry for her!
In Real Life dressed to the nines in a grocery store looks weird!
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:03 am
Sometimes I want to dress up - for me - before I go out-even to the grocery store. But most of the time, I brush my hair and put it up, check the mirror to make sure I look decent and sort of match (no stripes with plaids - ha ha!) and go with what I am wearing. I am a casual person anyways; dressing up is always stressful (is this skirt still fashionably acceptable? Does this pattern still work, or is it too dated? etc., etc., etc.) I never have put much stock in the images media shoves down our throats.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 am
Whatever I feel is comfortable, I wear it. Going to the grocery store, I’m in jeans or yoga pants and a screen tee. Since I’m a preggo, I’m in adidas flip flops, lol. Well actually I was wearing those pre-pregnancy. What a bum right? lol
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:38 am
i am totally agree with you. I think the commercial must looked real. But what they show??
All bogus. I n real life most of us don’t want to dressed like models.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 am
I think the media gives everyone an unnatural sense of what they should look and act like. It gives the illusion that all men are fat, self-centered pieces of trash and it gives women the illusion that they should be 80 pounds and look like they have their own, personal makeup, hair and clothes professionals waiting on them hand and foot and that just isn’t how the real world works.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I agree with you. I saw a similar article on the front page of a magazine about how celebrity mothers also looked “real” mums look bad. Seeing as it was Mother’s Day here in the UK just yesterday, this blog entry is kinda relevant!
Mums are tired, overworked and stressed. Tired, overworked, stressed women don’t look like airbrushed supermodels. It’s a fact of life and while you wouldn’t expect someone on an advert to look completely minging, you do wonder if the media are placing unnecessary pressure on ALL women (mums and non-mums alike) to look and act a certain way. “Real women have flabby upper arms and snort when they laugh,” to quote Christina from Ugly Betty.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I couldn’t agree more. Also, mom’s seem to hold other mom’s to higher standards.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
There is a new Crayola magic marker commercial out for chubby little markers designed for toddlers…the baby is coloring on a sheet of paper on cream colored carpet!!!!! No way would that actually happen at my house.
I think the media paints the picture of what they perceive mothers “wanting” to be. But I honestly think they would reach out to the demographic more accurately if they told it like it was. Suave has a great campaign going on now for real moms, and I love the Dove campaigns geared toward “real women” with real bodies, and not airbrushed images.
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:10 pm
The site design looks great. Back on topic though, I just spent the weekend looking after two kids for some friends, and now I totally understand why moms aren’t always dressed well. I didn’t have a single free moment to take care of myself because I was far too busy giving loving care to those kids. I’d be highly suspicious now of any mom who looks well kept.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
My mom never had to dress like a supermodel, she was always beautiful to me.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I total agree!!! That is how Wahm Jams.com was born! Home of the original work at home mom uniform. Hoodies, Tees, fitness shorts and usually all worn with tennis shoes. I would not have it any other way nor would my back. =)
March 4th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Well, i’m not a mother
but I know what you mean. The media has ways of portraying things unrealistically all too well.
March 4th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Sweatpants, dresses, no make-up or make-up… beautiful, just beautiful!
March 4th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
How ironic, I was just thinking about this the other day. As a single mom of two kids, I don’t always have the time to fix myself up. And I’ve noticed that people notice this. If you go to the grocery store not looking like a million bucks they discretely look. It’s to bad that it has to be this way. Thanks for sharing.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
It is really true that the media makes moms look like Supermodels sometimes. Have you seen pictures of Victoria Beckham out with her kids? Seriously. I don’t wear heals to go shopping. Well, maybe my knee-high boots, because I love them.
I do think that we should at least put on a pair of jeans before we leave the house. Unless you are planning on not getting out of the car.
March 5th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
yes i totally agree to some extent. but do we really want to see the reality on commercials when we see it everyday in our own lives? it sometimes takes me days to get a shower in and i dont enjoy myself marinating in my own juices and i if i saw a mom that has matted hair and a stretchy bra strap hanging out, i would say “is someone filming me?” and turn the channel. but on the other hand, having worked in advertising for about 8 years, those people who make the commercials are a bunch of boys who clearly are single or wish they were.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:08 am
Those commercials portray mothers as a bunch of stepford wives. It’s unrealistic and a little bit creepy.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
The media. What a bunch of crap.
Television, magazines, movies, etc. have morphed our society into an unreal expectation for men and women, mostly women, and if we ‘buy’ into to their horse crap, then they’ve won and we’ve lost.
We live in a ‘tourist’ town - imagine Aspen, but not quite that snooty. We shop in town to support our local merchants, and we ‘locals’ can spot a touristo a mile away - just read Karen Lynch’s comment. It’s not just how they dress, it’s also their attitude - like we’re a bunch of in-bred idiots who their left from their right.
Our response - we just make fun of them. It really gets them Pississippied.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I agree, and it really can hurt some women’s self esteem.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Mouvies, television and magasines never show a realistic image of the mother that we all know, but I must admit that I would like to see my mother wearig more often some elegant clothes or some make up. I really want to see my mother well dressed more often and not just on Christmas, New Year or Mothers Day.