Greeting cards. You walk into the store, and it’s a sea of hyper-specific yet utterly generic sentiment. ‘Happy Birthday to a wonderful daughter-in-law who brightens every room and fills our lives with joy!’ Oh, that’s her! She’s the one! But what if your daughter-in-law is just… fine? What if she doesn’t ‘brighten every room’? What if she just exists? Where’s the card for that? ‘Happy Birthday to a person I know, who is related to someone else I know.’ Or the sympathy cards. ‘So sorry for your loss. Thinking of you in this difficult time.’ What if I’m not really ‘thinking’ of them? What if I’m just acknowledging the social obligation? I need a card that says, ‘Heard the news. That’s rough. Hope you’re doing okay, but I’m not really going to follow up.’ Honesty in greeting cards. It’ll never sell.
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