Honestly, some of the sentiments in alternative greeting cards available on the Web are just plain mean. But they can also be very, very funny. Not just funny ha ha, but funny with a bite or sting. The greeting cards available on sites like Keller’s Kards and Ghastly Greetings are very dark, but they speak to a segment of the population that likes a little edge to their humor. This market is young and funny, and they have money to spend.
Music has evolved over time to be edgier and edgier with every incarnation. Movies have also gotten more violent and graphic over time. Is it any surprise that the greeting card industry would follow down the same path? Consumers of greeting cards are accustomed to extremes in all aspects of entertainment, and greeting cards are tiny forms of entertainment. They are meant to bring a laugh or smile to the recipient. Greeting cards are simply evolving – just as other forms of entertainment have evolved over the years.
The big greeting card companies like Hallmark and American Greetings have, over the years, rehashed the same old tired jokes about age and sex. Enter alternative greeting card companies. Their market not only appreciates them, but also eats them up. All one has to do to understand the success of these cards is to take a look around. Jackass, Simon Cowell from American Idol, and Viva La Bam all show the public’s thirst for a different kind of humor.
The mainstream greeting card companies have a long way to go to catch up with the smaller upstarts. Far Gone Greetings’ card line speaks first to the special interests of the recipient, the occasion second. This fresh thinking is sorely needed in the greeting card industry. For decades, consumers had to make do with whatever the big greeting card companies chose to sell. Now, there is a better option. Consumers have a choice that is as individual as they are. Hallmark and American Greetings should take a serious look at the current trends in entertainment to find out what consumers crave.
At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of supply and demand. As the consumer market changes and evolves, companies will have to change with them or face extinction. For Keller Kards, Far Gone Greetings, and Ghastly Greetings, these ain’t your daddy’s greeting cards.
Author: Victoria Primicias
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Gadget reviews
Great post. Reminds me of when I was younger and my dad and I would stand in the greeting card aisle of the grocery store and laugh uncontrollably at all the cards. Nowadays they all kind of blow.