Why aren't non-white people depicted on birthday cards?

[whatever117]

I just bought my (black) mate a card and everything was hilarious and funny and really looked like her.

Apart from the colour. I have just got off the phone and we always joke (each year) that the cards would be spot on - and should we colour the figure in.

We actually had a serious chat than all humourous cards etc do not depict people of colour.

Amberleaf, there are cards yes and I know the ones you speak of, NO black people i know liked them, they were cheesy as hell! What about cartoon cards for kids? you can get a white train driver, a white princess, a white skateboard dude.... shall i go on?

I think Shengan only reads my post.....

only read

You can get them but they are a bit rubbish.

When I buy cards for my DCs I tend to go for pictures of characters or animals rather than little blonde cherubs.

For those who think it doesnt matter - do you not think you would be the slightest bit if every card your child ever got showed pictures of children that looked nothing like them? Different skin tone, different hair?

Not the odd one or two but ALL of them? If your children had a mantleshelf full of cards depicting little brown children would it not feel a little odd?

There is a shop in Hackney that sells cards depicting black people, but they are very 1970s-fied and feature lots of dodgy soft-focus photos of people with 'Soul Glo' afros.

shen do you really think the arrival of a black Disney Princess sums up the acheivements of the entire might of every black community?

Dont be daft.

Its not supposed to and noone thinks it does.

It just nice to be able to have one more thing to add to the list.

When my DD was little I had to write letters of complaint to my local Woolworths because they didnt carry one single black doll. Not ONE. This was in Archway - North London.

I want my kids to have incidental stuff around them. Not 'special' toys like the ones I had to by for their elder siblings. 'Mixed Race Male Doll' that cost me a fecking fortune from an educational catalogue and the lovely LetterBox Library book store for books with the merest hint of a brown skin.

I just want the stuff to be around, not special. Its a hundred times better but still not perfect. And lets not get started on trying to find something with an ordinary kid who just happens to have SN....

A lot of them are American style with soft focus and candles and men and women with Jerry Curls and nylon evening wear [bleugh]

lol!@Jerry Curls

My sister's black baby doll was brought in Glasgow in the late 1950s. Not sure if this was a fashionable toy at the time but it was very lifelike.

You used to be able to get disabled dolls fairly easily too (wheelchairs, or with glasses - not a disability, I know, but you know what I mean).

Amberleaf, there are cards yes and I know the ones you speak of, NO black people i know liked them, they were cheesy as hell! What about cartoon cards for kids? you can get a white train driver, a white princess, a white skateboard dude.... shall i go on

Im not just talking about the 80s ones though, I said they have been around since then.

Ive seen better ones than that since then especially online.

Whether the recipient likes them is a personal issue and would depend on the card and their individual taste.

I'm sure There was a Dragon's Den business where the woman had a business creating cards with ethnic minorities used as models.

I'm sure the buyers stock the shops in various areas accordingly though - if I looked in my predominantly white home town I would stuggle to find anything other than a few token specialist items, but if I went somewhere where there was a majority, or at least a far greater proportion of non-white inhabitants I would hope/expect to see that reflected in the stock. It is certainly holds true for things like food lines in major supermarkets etc, where you can expext more than just the token three shelves of 'ethnic' ingredients.

laitauchoc, I think the cards are patronising, as firstnoelle said they are soft focus with the soul-glo hair cuts! But fair point. I think if I got one of the soul glo cards my friends would be a bit

I tend to try and cards with some anodyne little flowers /balloons etc

There are 2 separate things here. Cards depicting BME people as well as white people. And being able to get cards we like. Cards generally I find are very stereotypical - for example fathers being depicted as either football fans or drinking beer. I find it very difficult to get cards I actually like that aren't stereotypical and often end up buying blank ones instead. For example it is very hard to find a suitable birtday card for my niece who isn't at all girly, into hannah montana or pink. Those stereotypical images affect cards depicting black people just as they affect most card ranges.

cat64 - latest census - 92% of people describe themselves as white. Although % of young BME people is higher than the % of older BME people. It is easy imo to get a skewed idea of the country if you base it just on where you live.

As a white person, when I buy cards for BEM children and friends I try to avoid cards which obviously depict a white person as a representative of the recipient (the You're a boy and you like football, here's a picture of a boy playing football type) but I would also be a bit about pointedly getting a card depicting a black person.
I go the neutral route, animals, flowers, toys, Batman.

I generally don't buy cards with people on. Not a fan. Like with books, I much prefer abstract covers to covers that supposedly show you the main character.

I live in a part of south london where the majority population is non-white. There are plenty of cards in the local shops depicting ethnic minorities.

Actually, you can by Kwanzaa cards round here. Beat that!

OP - I think retailers will only stock cards they think they can sell. As the retailers round my way do.

Otherwise, you're just going to have to buy online: here

I would like to have bought a card addressed to Mother rather than Mum and ditto for Father.

As for Mothering Sunday, all I ever see is 'Mother's Day'.

I forgot to mention that people in other countries do not always have the habit of sending birthday cards so that might account for the small number of ethinic minority cards here. I might be generalising but South Africans do not send Christmas cards - although I send to my friends there.

cat64 - As you live in a city with a large bme population I am really surprised you can't find cards with BME people on them. I live in an ethnically diverse city and can find cards locally.

Just like I can easily get Eid cards, Diwali cards, etc.