



SHALL MOTHERS' ^ 

 i^ DAY ENDURE? 



Mothers* day is unlike Easter. Memorial day or Christmas — it is not 

 founded on a popular observance of long standing. Discontinue the Mothers' 

 day publicity and the special demand for flowers will disappear fully as 

 quickly as it was created. To keep it going the trade must keep .on adver- 

 tising — must! 



The 



OW that Mothers' day has 

 become one of the red 

 letter days on the trade 

 calendar, a lot of people 

 are busy claiming credit 

 ^ for it, but let there be no 

 misapprehension; the idea 

 of Mothers' day was con- 

 ceived outside the trade, 

 it was first exploited by 

 Review, but it would have 



amounted to nothing if it had not been 

 for the retail florists. The trade made 

 Mothers' day — made it by advertis- 

 ing it. 



Must Keep It Up. 



While the trade quite well under- 

 stands that the enormous sale of flow- 

 ers at Mothers' day has been the direct 

 result of publicity— first in The Review 

 and then in daily papers — there are 

 many who have not thought of their 

 own duty in the matter. They have 

 not yet realized that they owe it to 

 themselves to put their shoulders to the 

 wheel along with the shoulders of those 

 who have thus far done the work. 



And today there is danger that the 

 trade may not realize the result of re- 

 laxed effort. It was advertising, noth- 

 ing but advertising, that made Moth- 

 ers ' day. Nothing 

 but advertising will 

 keep it going. 



Of course Mothers' 

 day has back of it 

 an appeal to senti- 

 ment that is suffici- 

 ently strong to make 

 the date, the second 

 Sunday in May, cling 

 in the minds of a 

 portion of the peo- 

 ple, else the day 

 never would have 

 come to the front in 

 the way it has, but 

 the day is not based 

 on such centuries-old 

 customs as are asso- 

 ciated with the ob- 

 servance of Christ- 

 mas and Easter. 

 Even Memorial day, 

 a comparatively new 

 flower day, has back 

 of it a far longer 

 popular observance. 



Mothers' day dates 

 back only to 1908. In 

 that year it broke 

 out sporadically at 

 widely scattered 



^Plow^ers/or 

 jf Mothers ' Day 



Telegraphed to All Parts 

 of the United States 



The expression throu|;h the medium of beau- 

 tiful flowers of the sacred sentiment of "Mothers' 

 Day" Is a custom which has become universal In 

 the past few years. 



Dhtanc* b no h Mt i ir am lal^ 



puti of Um Uajtad 



h ■ 



"Bright flowers if mother is still here; 

 White flowers if mother hu passed away." 



43 Bromfield Street 



Distance is No Barrier. 



points in the United States as the re- 

 sult of a letter written to a newspaper 

 by Miss Jarvis, the lady to whom we 



A Co-operative Advertisement Published by the Florists of Detroit 



are indebted for the idea. But it was 

 not until 1909 that any considerable 

 number, either of the trade or public, 

 heard of Mothers' day. In April of 

 that year The Review told the trade 

 that here was a chance to make another 

 special flower day — a day coming just 

 when needed, between Easter and 

 Memorial day, when flowers are plen- 

 tiful and cheap, when the trade is most 

 in need of support. In that article all 

 florists were urged to advertise Moth- 

 ers' day, to give the day a boost in 

 every possible way. 



It Paid to Push. 



While Mothers' day obtained a good 

 start in 1909, as the result of hundreds 

 of florists acting on the suggestions 

 made by The Review, it was not until 

 1910 that real action was obtained. In 

 that year thousands of florists pushed 

 Mothers' day where only hundreds had 

 done so the year before — the success 

 that had attended 'the initial effort bore 

 fruit. From that timdftn Mothers' day 

 has grown like the proverbial green bay 

 tree, until it now is one of the big days 

 for the trade. It has grown almost 

 without other assistance than the ad- 

 vertising done by retail florists. 



This much must be remembered, how- 

 ever: A whole year 

 elapses from one 

 Mothers' day to an- 

 other. People forget. 

 Everybody knows of 

 the cumulative effect 

 of advertising. The 

 more Mothers' day is 

 advertised the wider 

 the observance be- 

 comes; the greater 

 the effect each year. 

 But once let the ad- 

 vertising cease and 

 Mothers' day quickly 

 will be forgotten. It 

 is not yet sufficiently 

 well established so 

 that the trade can 

 afford to let the pub- 

 lic go unreminded. 



If we want Moth- 

 ers' day to endure it 

 must be advertised 

 these many years. It 

 must be brought to 

 the attention of the 

 people each year. 



There are innumer- 

 able ways of adver- 

 tising Mothers' day. 

 The easiest way is to 





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E^il *-!_• 



