UK Greeting Card Association Supports Better Birthdays Campaign

In May 2021, Janine Vanderburg of Changing the Narrative, was asked to make a presentation to the US Greeting Card Association convention about Ageism and birthday cards. Over in the UK in January this year, Hannah and Dave made contact with Amanda Fergusson the CEO of the UK Greeting Card Association, and from there, several senior executives in the UK greeting card industry. 

We have experienced an interesting and insightful journey during these conversations, firstly the kinds of cards that we would consider ageist (see our guidelines) appear to be viewed as “intimate banter between friends”. In addition, folks in the industry are keen to highlight that these cards are not only popular, BUT mainly purchased by older people! So what’s the problem? What can possibly be wrong?

As we described how ageism works and the harmful effect it has, a mixture of surprise and interest emerged. The UK Greeting Card Association believes that the industry should be made aware and understand the implications of ageism. They agreed that there be an article announcing the launch of the Better Birthdays website in the monthly magazine Progressive Greetings Worldwide (scheduled for the September issue).

In the meantime we were delighted that within days of the Better Birthdays platform going live, the UK Greeting Card Association produced the article, Call for age-friendly card designs | PG Buzz for the August PGBUZZ.

Better Birthdays isn’t a campaign to expose and shame card designers and retailers, they are just like the general public at large, really unaware of how ageism works and harms us. As some of these card industry people have said, ‘now we have heard about ageism we are seeing it everywhere, in how my older relatives talk about themselves and even my peers!’. Which is exactly where learning starts for all of us, being given a  new way of seeing how the world works and beginning to change how we respond as a result. 

So the journey appears to be bearing positive fruit acknowledging the benefits of working

together to highlight and educate the industry on ageism. The PGBUZZ article picked up on the message for promoting more Age Friendly designs. We’re curious as to what exactly constitutes “age friendliness”. Perhaps there could be a programme of activity to get to grips with a brief and specification for “age friendliness” for cards across the life course which celebrate age identity at any age (not just later life)?

Watch this space…..

What do you think makes for an Age Friendly card?