Eid has passed and now we start Diwali. I received a Hallmark card from a friend today and to my slight amazement it was a Diwali e-card made by Hallmark. Although I could really care less about Hallmark, I am happy to see that they have adapted to a growing computer inclined community.
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Hallmark has 4 different Diwali e-cards that were clearly designed and musically composed by someone with very little knowledge on the subject of Diwali. For the most part the music that was chosen was a little too fusion oriented to make sense. I wonder who thought that Peruvian Flute would bring visions of glowing diyas (earthen lamps)?
I checked out American Greetings' site and the cards there seemed to have been an appropriation of cookie cutter Indian culture that stems from your local brass ornamented Indian restaurant. Hey, they did add some Indian Classical music which enhanced it's cheese factor or visions of elevator music in the 5 star hotels of India.
Sure there are limited choices in the Diwali e-card world, but if they choose to go the kitschy route in designing these cards, maybe they should consider going all out and really blow us away with the cheese factor and make it entertaining for all of us. Diwali, beyond being a religious holiday can be fun as well. Raise your Bhang Glasses and be merry...oops that's for Holi.
For logistics, read below:
Sep 16, 2003 - Newsday Article
On September 16, 2003 Newsday reported "this year, for the first time ever, Hallmark will sell cards for the Muslim feast of Eid ul-Fitr and the Hindu celebration of Diwali. 'With the increase in the number of Hindus and Muslims, we realized there was an ongoing need that we we're not satisfying,' said Deidre Parkes, spokeswoman for the Kansas City, Mo.-based Hallmark company that has been making greeting cards for Americans since 1910...While based on a desire to sell more cards, the new Hallmark cards are also a recognition of the changing face of America, said Egon Mayer, a sociologist at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Mayer directed the American Religious Identification Survey, which showed that the number of Hindu adults in the United States rose from 227,000 to 760,000 between 1990 and 2001. During the same period the number of Muslim adults went from about 527,000 to 1.1 million, he said. "
Hallmark has 4 different Diwali e-cards that were clearly designed and musically composed by someone with very little knowledge on the subject of Diwali. For the most part the music that was chosen was a little too fusion oriented to make sense. I wonder who thought that Peruvian Flute would bring visions of glowing diyas (earthen lamps)?
I checked out American Greetings' site and the cards there seemed to have been an appropriation of cookie cutter Indian culture that stems from your local brass ornamented Indian restaurant. Hey, they did add some Indian Classical music which enhanced it's cheese factor or visions of elevator music in the 5 star hotels of India.
Sure there are limited choices in the Diwali e-card world, but if they choose to go the kitschy route in designing these cards, maybe they should consider going all out and really blow us away with the cheese factor and make it entertaining for all of us. Diwali, beyond being a religious holiday can be fun as well. Raise your Bhang Glasses and be merry...oops that's for Holi.
For logistics, read below:
Sep 16, 2003 - Newsday Article
On September 16, 2003 Newsday reported "this year, for the first time ever, Hallmark will sell cards for the Muslim feast of Eid ul-Fitr and the Hindu celebration of Diwali. 'With the increase in the number of Hindus and Muslims, we realized there was an ongoing need that we we're not satisfying,' said Deidre Parkes, spokeswoman for the Kansas City, Mo.-based Hallmark company that has been making greeting cards for Americans since 1910...While based on a desire to sell more cards, the new Hallmark cards are also a recognition of the changing face of America, said Egon Mayer, a sociologist at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Mayer directed the American Religious Identification Survey, which showed that the number of Hindu adults in the United States rose from 227,000 to 760,000 between 1990 and 2001. During the same period the number of Muslim adults went from about 527,000 to 1.1 million, he said. "
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