An advertising campaign by Holiday Inn has earned the ire of UK advocacy groups after running a promotion whereby people could score discounts to “offload” mothers-in-law.
UPI reports that the campaign, which will be in place across Britain in the holiday season December 23 and 29 offers a substantial 25% discount for anyone who decides to check-in their spouse’s mother. Holiday Inn have said that the campaign was designed to “reduce holiday stress in overcrowded houses.”
According to a spokesman for the hotel chain:
The mother-in-law rate is a tongue-in-cheek initiative providing families with an alternative solution to help them avoid the stress of an overcrowded home this Christmas and save the in-laws from sleeping on the sofa.
The humor was missed by Iwan Rhys Roberts of Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales:
Someone needs to tell Holiday Inn that this is 2009, not 1979. Attitudes have changed a lot over the last 30 years and mother-in-law jokes have gone the way of the kipper tie. Christmas is meant to be a happy time — a time for goodwill and family but it can also be a difficult and lonely time for many older people.
I’m surprised that anyone would market the idea that you can offload your mother-in-law at a hotel over the festive period. It is insensitive and very offensive.
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