ConAgra brand Marie Callender's tackles mealtime mom guilt

Frozen entrée brand Marie Callender’s is on a quest to end mom guilt when it comes to making homemade meals.

The #EndMomGuilt campaign centres on two online videos featuring real moms. In the first, moms talk about different aspects of mom guilt, such as one woman’s disappointment over not having a natural childbirth, and another choosing her career over her son. The video puts the call out to #endmomguilt—even for a moment – and invites viewers to share their video “with an awesome mom.”

In a second spot, the women talk specifically about food—from their expectations for feeding their families before they became mothers, to the realities of preparing wholesome meals and actually getting kids to eat them. There are humorous touches to the video, for example, one mom says she has several dishes in her repertoire: “burnt, nearly burnt or really burnt.”

There’s also a product tie-in, with the moms talking about what makes a good meal and product shots from the Marie Callender’s line. In 2015, the brand launched six frozen entrées meant for busy families including Three Meat Lasagna, Scalloped Potatoes and Creamy White Mac.





The aim of the campaign is “to encourage moms to take some pressure off themselves and help them to make simpler choices, including the choices they have to make in preparing family meals,” said Keith Gillespie, director of marketing at ConAgra Foods Canada.

“I don’t think we’re setting out to end mom guilt in its entirety, but we are looking to assist mom at a time that does create a fair bit of mom guilt, which is in meal preparation.”

The brand is also encouraging moms to share their own stories of overcoming dinnertime stress by using #EndMomGuilt on social media.

The videos, created by Extreme Group, are based on a survey of 1,000 Canadian moms conducted this past summer for ConAgra Foods Canada. The survey found seven out of 10 moms wish they could spend less time preparing meals, and 94% are eager to give their kids the highest-quality meals possible.





The study also found 74% of moms wish everyday meal preparation was less difficult, 75% feel time-strapped, and nearly three in five moms feel guilty about not spending enough time with their families and wish they felt less guilty.

“The survey found this conflict that moms face between their desire to spend less time making meals, but also the desire to give their families the best, and that’s what creates this conflict or this mom guilt,” said Gillespie.

Using real moms in the videos and not actors “speaks to the truth that moms face and there’s nobody better to speak about moms than moms themselves,” he added.

This article first appeared on MarketingMag.ca