Forever 21 maternity line and mom vs. businesswoman
I was quite revolted by the thought of Forever 21 launching a maternity line, reports CNN. And then surprised at myself. So am I a mom or a business woman?
As a business woman, I see nothing wrong. In fact, its even a good idea. An untapped market, a growing segment (pregnant teens) , a trend even, with all the news about school pacts and the reality shows around teen pregnancies. And so what if a chain comes out with cool, chic, cheap, trendy clothes that mothers of all ages can borrow from.
But it seems like I have crossed the chasm and am now predominantly mom. So I was apalled by the thought of a trendy, teen oriented retailer suddenly launching a pregnancy line . I instantly imagined my son in a class with many pregnant teens, dealing daily with the fact that people in his middle school or high school were not just having intercourse but launching families or giving up their babies for adoption with apparent ease. And having had my body go through 2 pregnancies, I could not but help believe that pregnancies and babies are much more serious than that. I thought that there is danger to this trend, kind of like trendy movie stars smoking.
And then I realized that its not just forever 21 though – all kinds of consumer goods companies shock and even disgust me nowadays. Color and preservative filled cereal that is then injected with nutrients and labeled as such. Or baby bottle manufacturers who ignored research on harmful effects of plastics. And I am one who always wanted to be the one in marketing!
The thing with marketing which gets me as a mom is that it works. IIt works all too well with kids. And as I see the mind of my little sons manipulated, I find it difficult to stand back and enjoy a ‘marketing strategy’ I would have loved as a businesswoman.
So what about you, have you crossed over?
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Dear Khushi, Thanks for the thought provoking post. I crossed over, on the mom side, will soon write in a post.
I understand your sentiment, but from what I understand, Forever 21 is not targeted at teens, it’s targeted at adults over the age of 21 who’d want to be “Forever 21″…in which case, I’m not at all looking at it the way you are.
Infact, I like the idea of trendier maternity wear for women.