Is this Insulting?

I couldn't answer my own question about one of the Christmas advertisements FedEx recently ran here in North America. Rather than describe it, I'll let you watch this 15 second ad by clicking here.

Nana keeps knitting to fill a box from FedEx because she only has to pay One-Rate. During the video you see she's already made a toaster, a refrigerator, a dog, and a Christmas tree cozy and at the very end, even a cozy for her grandchild. She's a knitting machine!

Question is should any knitters be insulted by this advertisement? It does so play to the stereotypical knitting type. Nana is sitting in her chair in a home that hasn't been redecorated in years, surrounded by yarn and photos from the past.

Nana's home from the video

Her daughter in standing in an active, modern household where her husband is finishing the decorating of the Xmas tree under its own cozy with all the additional cozies in sight, except the child.

Daughter's home

The typical stereotypes about the average knitter are palpable:

Nana's older
Nana's thrifty
So of course she knits

I thought I'd do some research to see what motivated this ad and I got my answer. All the knitted items for the ad were prepared by Darn Good Yarn, a LYS + in Sebec, Maine. Nicole Snow, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, now yarn shop owner, imports yarn fiber that has been recycled from waste silk in India and Nepal and then distributes product in both the wholesale and retail markets. Click here to get the full story about the good work this small business owner is doing to help other women in the world. In 2013 FedEx announced that Darn Good Yarn was the grand prize winner of the inaugural FedEx Small Business Grant Competition and the recipient of a $25,000 grant.

All of this helps me feel better about the stereotypes in the ad. To think FedEx is in a small way financially supporting this entrepreneur helps explain the subject and why it was selected. Thus, I'm choosing to not be insulted and laugh along with everyone else.

Comments

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