American Greetings released a series of cards in honor of Father’s Day, and the company’s sole card featuring a couple of color was embellished with an elegant foil imprint saying, “Baby Daddy.”
Today, American Greetings is eating crow and has issued an apology for the problematic mess moonlighting as a celebratory greeting card.
While it is true that some people use the phrase “baby daddy” as a term of endearment, historically, the phrase is used to describe the father of a child, whom the mother did not marry, and with whom they are not currently involved. “Baby Daddy” is also deeply rooted in African-American culture and until recently, was almost exclusively used by people of color.
“This particular card was created for, and addressed to, a loving husband — which the inside copy makes clear,” American Greetings said in a statement. “However, we now see that the front page, taken out of context, can communicate an unintentional meaning that we are strongly against perpetuating and is not consistent with our company purpose and values. We should do better in the future, and we will. We have notified our store merchandisers to remove the card from the shelves and apologize for any offense we’ve caused.”
If the card is created and addressed to a loving husband, why did American Greetings choose to use a term that is reserved for fathers that are not still romantically linked with mothers?
The phrase “Baby Daddy” is “not sweet or nice,” wrote Dallas-based Facebook user Takeisha Saunders, one of the first customers to complain about the card. “It’s a term used to describe a deadbeat or absent parent. Yeah it’s sweet on the inside, but whomever created this card doesn’t know what it means.”
Target has since announced that they will be removing the card from their shelves, but it appears that the damage has already been done. This gross oversight on the part of American Greetings continues to perpetuate the dangerous narrative of absent black fathers.
American Greetings should be ashamed that it took backlash on social media for them to realize the error of their ways, and hopefully there will be some serious sensitivity training in the company’s near future.
When it comes to representation, intention does not matter. Perception reigns supreme.
This article appears in Jun 13-19, 2018.
I can guess exactly what the people in production were thinking when this rolled through.
“Whatever.”
That is what you say when you have no say in the decisionmaking process and you prefer to keep your job at the company. You just print up what the order says like a good little peon, stand back, and let the boss stick his foot right in it.
Gotta wonder how many folks from inner-city Cleveland work out there in the boonies, across the road from Crock O’ Shit Park, the Plasticville pretending to be an “urban center”, complete with streets and sidewalks. Probably not many, I’m guessing. And those people of color who work there were most definitely NOT gonna say “Yo, chill out a minute, Jack! This ain’t cool! Do you know what that term even MEANS? ” Not if they wanted to stay on the payroll. You don’t talk trash to the suits, or the creatives, or the art department. You just STFU and keep your head down and wait for the shit to hit the fan. Which it did.
I’m HAPPY that American Greetings now has all this egg on its mostly- Caucasian face. I have HATED that sell-out outfit for years now… ever since the day they decided to move OUT of the city and took all those jobs and got all those tax breaks to leave. But only AFTER they LIED and said they would STAY and EXPAND, which meant the ultimate destruction of the last drive-in movie theater in Cleveland, one that had been there and brought summer delights and pleasure to its loyal customers since 1947. There aren’t too many left, both in Ohio and in the rest of the country.
Nice going, asshats. You really screwed up, and you deserve the embarrassment and the ass-kicking you’re now getting. Somebody needs a big fat boot in the ass, right out the door and into the parking lot!
I have a comment to make about about this matter, but this time I’ll keep it to myself. As a conservative, I want to publicly thank Scene Magazine for allowing ALL opinions and viewpoints on their website, unlike the easily offended militants at the Cleveland Plain Dealer who censor comments like mine all the time.