Mirella Sato, 49, gets emotional when she sees Mother's Day campaigns showing affectionate children giving presents to a fulfilled and happy mother.
"For a long time, I lived like that," sayz s the designer. "But then I woke up to a harsher reality."
However, the last few years of her youngest son, Vitor, 18, were challenging. He discovered he was homosexual and didn't accept himself. He went through episodes of self-harm and attempted suicide. Mirella started spending 24 hours with him.
The example illustrates how distant the reality of mothers can be from the sugary campaigns that accompany the second Sunday of May. But there are brands that decided to go against the grain and exposed conflict and workload.
O Boticário invested in a short film in which a mother spends the night waiting for her teenage son, who doesn't give any news. They argue, get annoyed with each other, until the next day when the son apologizes.
Renner decided to show the workload of mothers: the daughter tries to plan Mother's Day and realizes that she has too many tasks and too little time.
Gisela Castro, professor of the postgraduate program in communication and consumer practices at ESPM and mother of twins, highlights that Mother's Day is not happy for everyone.
"There are people who had a troubled relationship with their mother and don't have good memories. Or women who don't feel identified with motherhood and are pressured because of it," says the specialist in commenting on the subject.