Who do you give your love to?

20 Jun, 2019

With it being Pride month, it got me thinking about how the retail industry is so heavily biased in the way we sell to people.

shit just got real greeting card from Paper and Things

It starts from baby stages and seamlessly continues through to kids toys and beyond; pink barbies for girls and blue trucks for boys... bleughh!!

But do you know what? Even though I hate this kind of forced shopping, my own site is equally guilty. I have compartmentalised gifting into him, her, teens and kids - simply to make sure google “likes me” and I'm following trends of how people search and shop online. What a sell out!

In reality, a lot of Fromie Gifts products cross over, and certainly in store, my customers often ignore that segregation idea and just pick what they like.

So, in ya face search engines!

Essentially, people buy from people and as a small community focussed business, this gives me a stronger, more agile positioning than a lot of the big players in the industry.Being clear about the product, the origin of it and why that product is being bought is vital. So I am determined to make ‘clarity’ a priority moving forwards into my second year of trading (come September)

I was shooting new gift boxes the other day with photographer Anna Bowkis who has first hand experience of the LGBTQ+ community. We discussed how things are viewed and how important images are when it comes to bias.

Portrait of Anna Bowkis, photographer

Anna says, “As a mum to a son that comes under the LGBTQ+ banner, it’s been a really eye opener for me seeing advertising with a new set of eyes. We are all individuals, with different likes and dislikes, gender is so irrelevant at the end of the day. We should not be judged by what we buy, wear or watch on TV. Let us celebrate who we are as individuals.”

So, let’s stop putting people in pigeonholes and pretending we all fit the same mould (just google ‘Gifts for LGBT friends’ you ‘ll see what I mean... really. It’s utter crap!)

Let’s level the playing field.

Let’s have packaging that is more gender neutral but not boring.

Let’s have gifts that engage people’s minds, style and tastes.

Let’s stop over thinking and have a bit more fun with how we buy for our friends and family.

With this ethos no one loses. No one is missed out, not catered for, or ostracised.

Equal gifting is like equal rights - it does not mean less for you. It’s not a cake.

People are people. The right gift shows you care. It’s that simple.

4 badges of people hugging from Ben the Illustrator

(Badges available instore from the wonderful @benillustrator)

Tags: gender neutral gifts Gift of Giving Giftboxes independent shops LBGTQ+ presents pride