If It’s Been on Americans’ Minds,
It’s Been in the Cards

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Jan. 11, 2010) — In the 1920s, we were sweet and (mostly) innocent. In the 1930s, times were tough and our mothers cooked, ironed and did no wrong in our adoring eyes.

In the '40s we rationed sugar at home and missed our men overseas. Dad returned from the war and went to work so Mom could stay home with the booming babies, who by the '60s and '70s wore love beads and groovy bellbottoms. We dressed for success and video workouts in the '80s, went online in the '90s, and today seek direction from our global positioning systems, entertainment in reality TV, connection through our cell phones and support in friendships both physical and virtual.

That’s just a sampling of the social and cultural history chronicled in Hallmark cards over the past 10 decades. Because if it’s been on Americans’ minds, it’s probably turned up in the greeting cards we’ve used to express our emotions and wish each other well over Hallmark’s first century.

“People give greeting cards to give voice to their feelings and show others that they care,” says Hallmark trends expert Marita Wesely. “So greeting cards naturally reflect what’s on peoples’ minds at any given point in time – what they’re doing, what they’re wearing, what they’re laughing or crying about, what cultural influences are changing their behavior and communication.”

With images and carefully crafted words based on deep understanding of people’s emotional needs, Hallmark has translated each decade’s culture into greeting cards – with sentiments that reflect exactly what people wanted to say to each other, whether to celebrate a birthday, recognize a holiday, or just share a smile or a moment of comfort.

“People change, language changes, what’s acceptable changes, and therefore, Hallmark’s cards change along with culture,” Wesely says.

But what remains true over time, she adds, is our need to establish meaningful connections with others. “What we say, and even the means by which we say it, will change. But the need to connect reaches across the tools and customs of any point in time,” she says.

From 1910, when the teenage J.C Hall established the business that would become Hallmark, through its first 50 years, the public’s trends and tastes evolved slowly. War, prohibition, a child-like view of love, and the changing role of women all influenced the words, images and occasions reflected in greeting cards.

More recently, tastes, trends, fads and culture itself have changed at a rapidly increasing pace.

Enter the information age, television, increasingly diverse demographics, the Internet and more. As a result, the cards on Hallmark shelves – and online or your mobile phone – feature everything from a sassy Maxine, sentiments for losing a pet, and a myriad of references to family – whatever your definition of it may be – to birthday cards for people who are turning 100, cards that play iconic music and the voices of loved ones, and cards you personalize and print on demand.

“Hallmark’s ability to reflect the changing shape of society in the greeting cards we send is clearer now than ever, and is evolving beyond paper greeting cards to the ever-expanding ways we connect,” says Wesely.

“If the past 100 years have been complex, emotional and both psychedelic and swell, just imagine what the next century will bring! But know that Hallmark will be in the midst of it.”

To see an image gallery of how Hallmark cards have captured the sensibilities of the past 100 years through today, visit www.hallmark.com/100years and click on "Our First Century."