Are Young Jewish Women an Advertiser’s Dream?

With the release of the first issue of Jewish Living magazine came a phone call to me from a reporter at the Palm Beach Post. Jewish Living is a new Martha-esque lifestyle ‘zine for the Jewish homemaker, and the reporter thought that as editor of the website Modern Jewish Mom I could give him the dish on this new "trend" of marketing to hip, Jewish moms.

I told him it's not so new, the idea of making it hip to be Jewish. From Heeb and Jewcy to Rabbis Daughters and ChosenCouture, (I even threw some credit to Madonna and Demi), hip and Jewish is here to stay. As the young women who once wore "Challah Back" boy beaters now become mothers, websites and magazines will follow.

But that wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"Wouldn't it be smart for Bloomingdale's to advertise in JewishLiving? After all, aren't Jewish women their primary customers?"

"Non-Jewish women shop at Bloomingdales, too. And Bloomie's and their ilk can reach a Jewish AND non-Jewish audience by advertising in mainstream magazines. JewishLiving readers probably won't be interested in ads for Maneschewitz, though."

He kept pushing. I knew what he wanted. For me to say we're a bunch of materialistic JAPs who love nothing more than to shop. That we're more likely to be found in Saks than in shul. That reaching a niche market of wealthy, young Jewish women is an advertisers dream. So why would advertisers need to bother with shiksas when they have JewishLiving?

The more he pushed for me to tell him the differences between Jewish and non-Jewish women, the more I realized how slight those differences are. Today, being Jewish is part of our identity, but not our entire identity. We want tradition to be relevant and valuable while fitting with our modern lifestyles. Gone are the days when we will stay home all Friday to make Shabbes.

Are we highly educated? Yes. More so than our mothers, but only because of the sacrifices our mothers made so we could go to college and grad school. Are we wealthy? Yes, Jewish households in America are wealthier on average than non-Jewish households, but overall there's a heck of a lot more disposable income and college degrees among non-Jewish women than Jewish ones. Do we look different? Not so much, anymore. Do we dress differently? I almost started talking about the whole "goyishka" way of dressing when I remembered some Lily Pulitzer pieces in my closet!

For magazines like Jewish Living, and websites like mine, talking to modern Jewish moms means taking into account who we are as a generation. We're more jaded than our mothers. We don't kowtow to the rabbi simply because he is the rabbi. We juggle insane schedules, and tradition better damn well make sense if we're going to give it our time. So speak to us intelligently and thoughtfully and don't patronize us.

So, would mainstream advertisers be smart to advertise in JewishLiving? Absolutely. Because it would show support for the Jewish community. Because it would prove that they understand that when Rachael Ray tells her audience that her Christmas buffet casserole made of leftover ham, turkey, cheese and creamed corn would work just as beautifully for Hanukkah, it's offensive. Because last year's December issue of Family Circle didn't even mention that there were other holidays besides Christmas being prepared for in homes. Because mainstream lifestyle resources are not adequately addressing the needs of the Jewish family and so we've stepped in and met the need ourselves.

But not because you think we're a generation of JAPs who can't stay out of Bloomingdales.