Dads bringing the pressure
Dads are finally welcome to buy diapers at Amazon. Without a lot of fanfare, Amazon renamed their Amazon Mom membership as Amazon Family. Jeffery Harrington began the petition at change.org three years ago requesting that Amazon be more inclusive when it came to offering discounts to moms. Soon after, a dad bloggers group joined in support of the petition, increasing pressure on Amazon to make the change.
Fathers are a big part of the family equation
Amazon should not be surprised that there are dads who are the primary caregiver of small children. According to Harrington’s petition, about 20 percent of families with children under five have fathers who are the caretaker. This doesn’t even include the fact that there are more same-sex couples having children. Gender is not the primary factor in who takes care of the children. Let’s not even discuss families where the mom is gone or has passed away. Amazon needed to change its moniker.
A quiet (shameful?) change
Interestingly, it seems as if the Amazon Mom program was only named that in the United States. In most other countries, Amazon was calling the program Amazon Family. Which makes you wonder why it made the change so quietly. I did a search the Fox News Website and found absolutely nothing. I did a Google Search for more information, and I came up with three articles. One from the Chicago Tribune, one from GeekWire, and another from the Consumerist.
For the whole family
Before Amazon Mom became Amazon Family, the website stated that all were welcome to join, grandparents, dads, or caretakers. It doesn’t make sense that Amazon wouldn’t jump on the marketing bandwagon to let their users know that the program is now more inclusive.
Personally, I wonder if they’re afraid of offending those in the country who still haven’t accepted new definitions of what a family is. I highly doubt Amazon would lose that many customers in any case, and they might actually gain more than the loss. Amazon did good. Moms aren’t the only caretakers in the family, and their discount program needs to acknowledge that not everyone has a mom who does the shopping.
#AmazonFamily
