DDB Life Style Study® Finds Mother's Day is not Mom's Favorite Holiday

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May 10, 2012, 03:57 ET

CHICAGO, May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- This Sunday most Americans will do something to celebrate Mother's Day. Whether it be buying flowers, sending a greeting card, calling her on the phone or serving her breakfast in bed, children young and old will mark the occasion and take a moment to thank Mom for all she does.

A recent DDB Life Style Study survey revealed, however, that while mothers across the country appreciate the attention and love their families bestow on this occasion, Mother's Day is not, in fact, their favorite holiday. Only 2% of moms cite Mother's Day as their favorite holiday. Sixty-one percent of moms cite Christmas as their favorite, and Thanksgiving is next for 21% of moms.

Despite this, the study finds that most moms genuinely enjoy spending time with their children and even admit that they love their kids more than their spouses.

"Of course this doesn't mean that we should let Mother's Day go unmarked or unnoticed," says Denise Delahorne, Group Strategy Director at DDB Chicago. "But it is clear that most mothers love their children and their role as moms, regardless of what happens on Mother's Day." The study indicates that 95% of moms enjoy spending time with their children, and 88% say that raising a child brings them a lot of happiness. Only 9% of mothers find parenthood to be a real burden.

For most mothers, their relationship with their children is their top priority. Seventy-six percent of working mothers say they would dial back their careers if they felt it was negatively impacting their parenting, and more than 50% claim they would not even miss one event that was important to their kids because of a work obligation. Perhaps most surprising, 75% of mothers admit they love their kids more than their spouses.

According to the DDB Life Style Study data, mothers put a lot of effort and love into nurturing their children and cultivating the experiences that their families share. Family traditions are very important to 88% of mothers, and an equal number say they seek out ways to create lasting memories with their families.

What is also readily apparent in the study is that mothers are highly successful when it comes to fostering a loving and lasting relationship with their daughters and sons. Among adult men and women, 81% feel "extremely close" or "close" to their mothers. Only 5% describe their relationship with their mother as strained or worse (e.g., they are not on speaking terms). In fact, adults feel closer to their mothers than their fathers, with 43% saying they are closer to their mother than their father, and only 13% saying they are closer to their father than their mother.

"This feeling of closeness that more people have towards their mothers might explain why we are more likely to see "MOM" tattoos than "DAD" tattoos," says Denise Delahorne, Group Strategy Director at DDB. "And it is probably also why we can more easily remember times of trouble when we thought or said aloud, "I want my mommy."

About DDB

DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc (www.ddb.com) ranks among the top five consolidated advertising and marketing services global networks, according to Advertising Age. DDB emphasizes Social Creativity to grow the value and influence of brands around the world by creating ideas that people want to play with, participate in and pass along. The agency is consistently one of the most awarded at the Cannes Festival of Creativity and was recognized by The Gunn Report as one of the Top 3 Global Networks for 10 of the last 12 years. DDB was also recently named the Spikes Asia Network of the Year for the second consecutive year and the Eurobest Network of the Year for the third consecutive year. DDB Worldwide is part of Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) and consists of more than 200 offices in over 90 countries.

Contact

Jeff Swystun: 212-415-2186
Elena Weinstein: 212-415-2191

SOURCE DDB Worldwide