"Flowers expire. A giftcard won't."

With Mother's Day approaching fast, companies are desperate to advertise their wares. Some of them take quite an interesting approach to advertising, as the Society of American Florists reports. Rather than focusing on the positive of their own products, they choose to cast other products in an unfavorable light - flowers, in this case.

As the negative publicity watchdog of the industry, the Society of American Florists has contacted a number of companies this year and asked them to reconsider negative approaches in advertising. Among the offenders:

Best Buy sent an email promotion with the subject line: “Modern Moms want more than flowers.”
The ESPN Fan Shop powered by Dick’s Sporting Goods promoted: “Forget Flowers. Give Mom what she really wants this Mother’s Day.”
Fanatics Authentic, an online retailer of licensed sports merchandise, tweeted a photo of dead flowers: “This #MothersDay ❤ give a gift that last forever ;).”
A TV commercial for Fitbit, a company that produces wireless-enabled activity trackers, shows a flower arrangement and says not to give the same gift.
An ad by skincare products company Nerium International reads: “What will you give your Mom this Mother’s Day???” It shows a photo of flowers with the words: “… and they DIE!”
Reebok sent an email with the subject line: “Give Mom Something Other Than Flowers.”
Fresh grill and wine bar Seasons 52 with 43 locations in 17 states sent an email with the subject line: “Don’t say it with flowers – say it with brunch.”
Apple computer specialist Simply Mac sent an email that read: “Better than Flowers. Get Mom what she really wants.”

American Express
AmEx executives initially told the Society of American Florists that they were unaware that promotional gift cards for the credit card company read, “Flowers Expire. This Card Won’t.”

“Thank you for reaching out to us and raising attention to this,” AmEx’s Marina Hoffmann Norville, vice president of corporate, financial & risk public relations, wrote in an email last week to SAF. “I have raised this with my colleagues who handle gift cards, and we will look into this matter.”

But when AmEx’s Ann Satti, vice president of prepaid marketing, was looped into the communication, she expressed genuine surprise — and asked for some help.

“We’ve reviewed our current American Express Gift Card campaign, and we are not using that messaging,” she wrote to SAF. “We agree that marketing should focus on Gift Card benefits rather than drawing comparisons with other industries. Could you send us a copy of the ad that you saw to help us investigate this matter? We, too, don’t want it out there.”

Source: safnow.org