Motherhood Spring23

The Motherhood Magazine is Being Sued by Reign also known as Jewel.

Reign, a company that sells sanitary napkins, is suing Motherhood Magazine. Formerly known as Jewel, Reign claims that a Mom-to-Mom letter published last summer in Motherhood Magazine caused their company to lose half its sales—more than $100,000 per month.

The letter Reign is referring to was fairly long, and discussed several topics, one being Reign pads. The writer expressed concern that the quality of the pads had changed among other concerns. The writer then transitioned to other topics such as dealing with swollen tonsils in children and making healthy eating affordable. Nonetheless, Reign’s lawsuit has claimed that the concerns mentioned in the letter are not true, and that, by publishing the letter, Motherhood Magazine defamed Reign which means to damage the good reputation of someone.

Before continuing this letter any further, Sprigs Life and Motherhood Magazine do not have anything against Reign or its previous brand name, Jewel. In fact, I had first learned about this company only because we had received so many letters from readers writing how much they loved Reign products; we even published some of these letters. However, not until Motherhood Magazine received the letter last fall stating Reign’s intention to file a lawsuit against the magazine did I research the company more in-depth.

We were surprised when we received a letter from Reign threatening a lawsuit. I thought, This cannot be real. I replied, stating that we had no issue with Reign’s products and had published many positive comments about them.

Our job is to serve our customers and try to answer their concerns rather than attack customers for having those concerns. We also told Reign that if they had reached out in person rather than send a threatening letter from a lawyer, we would have been happy to work with them. Genuinely, if they had just asked if we could publish some statement clarifying the reader's concerns, we would have been extremely willing to do so.

After replying to Reign, we did not hear anything. Months later, in the following Motherhood Magazine, we received a couple of letters from readers who responded to the Mom-to-Mom letter. We published those letters, and I added a note saying that we liked Jewel products, had nothing against them, and were disappointed they would rather sue us than resolve the situation in a better way.

Motherhood Magazine did not publish the Mom-to-Mom letter with negative intent nor because the letter had any perceived negative content. The letter was a positive letter to the Motherhood community that discussed numerous topics. We thought we would most certainly receive letters from other readers who would respond to the letter’s concerns and decided that, if received, these letters would be published as well. In the Spring 2022 issue, we published two such letters as well as a statement from me.

Shortly after publishing these letters, we were saddened to learn that Reign had officially filed a lawsuit against us. We learned about the lawsuit through a news article written about the lawsuit. The article quoted the founder of Reign on how terrible and dangerous we are as a company and even included one line from the long letter I had sent Reign that made us seem as though we did not care about them in any way. The article misrepresented the situation.

I called and spoke to the reporter who wrote the story and read the letter that we had sent Reign to him. He responded, “Wow, I did not know any of this. This really changes the story. I’m going to ask my boss if I could be allowed to write a follow-up story.” He asked me to please update him as the situation progressed.

In any event, we are at the point where this situation is now in litigation (the process of working through a lawsuit). We have not previously shared any of this with the magazine readers, but because of the situation, are sharing now because we feel the need. We have been in a struggle for the last few years to save Motherhood and keep the magazine free for more than 25,000 readers. To explain, let me share how Motherhood Magazine came to be because that is where the story starts.

We started Motherhood Magazine because we felt like the Motherhood community needed a place to speak openly about Motherhood topics such as birthing difficulty, hormone issues, family planning, and the like—topics that might not be appropriate for or comfortable in other spaces. Originally, the Mom-to-Mom section had been part of Sprigs Life Magazine, but we came to realize that it needed its own space, so we launched Motherhood Magazine. Despite not having a clear plan to cover costs, we took a leap of faith and started anyway.

The first issue of Motherhood Magazine received an overwhelming response, having thousands of subscription requests. In fact, the first issue doubled our subscribers to

nearly 20,000. With so many subscribers, the cost of the magazine increased. Paying for the magazine through advertising proved to be challenging. The magazine was both new and large, and as a company, we did not have advertising or sales experience. So, as we looked to the future, we knew that paying for the magazine through selling ads might not be the best option.

We decided instead to launch the Motherhood Shop to help pay for the magazine. This was something in which we had much more experience. In the past, I had created Nature’s Warehouse catalog as well as publishing Sprigs Life Magazine, even contributing to numerous other publications. Selling products for which mothers were looking seemed like the best route.

Over the last few years, we have worked hard to build the Motherhood Shop into a business that would be able to support Motherhood Magazine. Recently, this has become an even more difficult challenge as printing costs have doubled and postage has increased, too. Just printing and postage alone cost more than $250,000 per year and that does not even include the time and labor of the team who makes every issue of the magazine possible.

Last September, we faced a choice. Either we bring Motherhood Magazine to an end, or we devote all our time and effort into the Motherhood Shop so that it grows to the point where we can pay for the Magazine. For the sake of transparency, we have included the finances for the Motherhood Shop since its beginning. Challenging though keeping Motherhood Magazine is, we feel this magazine is important to the community we serve and will do everything we can to keep publishing. By God’s grace, I trust we will be able to do this.

To further complicate the situation, after choosing to focus on saving Motherhood Magazine, Sprigs received an inspection from the FDA of our entire production facility that lasted multiple weeks. Although no safety issues were found, the FDA required us to make a lot of procedural changes that cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars, further straining us as a company and forcing us to borrow money to cover this extreme, unexpected cost.

Rather than becoming frustrated and discouraged, we decided to work harder. We added hundreds of new products to the Motherhood Shop. We changed the magazine format to improve how products were presented. We wrote new product descriptions and stopped carrying products that were not selling well. We even started our own diaper line, Baby Bear Bamboo. Even though diapers are not the most profitable products, we wanted to offer a quality product that mothers needed and would be able to order regularly.

Our hard work began to pay off, as by the end of last year, the Motherhood Shop grew and became more profitable. We continued to work hard; with this year’s growth and the successful launch of Baby Bear Bamboo, the future seemed to brighten. For the first time, Motherhood Magazine could be completely funded by the Motherhood Shop—that is, until we learned we were being sued. Lawsuits like this can become extremely expensive. This is especially challenging during a time when we have been fighting to save this magazine and community.

I share this story as well as the finances for Motherhood Magazine because I want you, the reader, to know exactly where we are and why we do what we do. Please understand that we are doing the best we can and will continue to do so. During this time, we would like to ask for your support. Please stand with us and encourage others to do the same.

Second, please support the Motherhood Shop and Baby Bear Bamboo. In the last six months, both have had tremendous growth. If not for this situation, I am confident that Motherhood Magazine would for the first time be able to pay for itself this year and grow into a strong business that serves people and supports a magazine that does, too.

Today, as I was finishing this letter for the magazine, Susana, who works in customer service, sent me a letter that we had received in the mail with no return address, containing $400. Hello. Here is some help for your magazine! We all truly enjoy it! Keep up the good work - Thank you. I have no idea who sent that but if you are reading this, thank you. Over the years, readers have sent money to help support the magazine but never since the beginning of Motherhood Magazine have we received a gift of $400. At this moment, I am finishing an article about the financial struggles with which we are dealing, and days in advance, God has placed the act to send us a gift on someone’s heart–someone who almost certainly does not know our situation–and has had

Third, consider sending a few dollars to support the magazine during this time. The current cost to print and mail each issue of the magazine is $2.15. This does not include the cost of paying the team who makes this magazine possible. If you can send $10, please do so: $10 may not seem like much but if 25,000 readers send $10 dollars each, the money raised would be tremendous help. If you are not able to send any money, please do not feel any pressure. If you can send more, please consider doing so. All support, no matter the form or amount, is appreciated.

Post Script

In the midst of all of this, we wanted to share this heartwarming letter we received from a reader. Letters like these make what we do worthwhile. Thank you for your support.

When the children are tucked in for the nap, And the house is passably clean, I like to curl up on the couch With my favorite magazine.

I love to read the Mom-to-Mom: It has some neat advice, Some funny stories and some sad ones That make me grateful for my life.

this gift arrive just as we finish this letter. You have no idea the encouragement and blessing that this is. God knows our needs before we ask; His ways are higher than ours.

Fourth, if Motherhood Magazine has blessed you in any way throughout the years, would you please share your story with us? As we go through this fight, your letters encourage us more than you know. The next Motherhood Magazine hopes to publish a few of these letters for everyone who has been helping support this magazine.

Again, thank you. Your support means the world to us.

Sincerely,

Jonathan & Nancy Laudon

The Motherhood Shop is super cute, I wish I could buy it all, I pour over it, drool a bit, And then place an order with a call.

The pictures are adorable, The articles, educational, The staff, phenomenal, The products, sensational.

But naptime is almost over now, The children have been good. It’s time for me to get them up, And get back to Motherhood.

Written by Hannah, a mom and Motherhood Magazine reader from Wisconsin.

Send us your birth announcements!

Congratulations on your new baby! We want to celebrate with you. Bringing a new life into this world is a miracle that deserves to be recognized. This is a wonderful time for your family and we hope that the months ahead are filled with lots of fun, love, and joy.

All the very best, Nancy and Jonathan Laudon

Send your birth announcements to:

Sprigs

P.O. Box 387 Millersburg, Ohio 44654 and we will share it with our community!

Mom & Dad:

Our New Blessing(s):

Date of Birth

City, State:

Address:

The Mom-to-Mom Section

Mom Mom

We are overjoyed and overwhelmed by the positive feedback we have received about the Mom-To-Mom. The number of respondents continues to grow! So many mothers and families have been helped by your generous responses to all of the questions that get asked and topics that are raised. In an effort to make it easier to find advice that is relevant to you, we have grouped the Mom-To-Mom letters into three different sections in this magazine.

Mom Mom

We have done our best to put letters in the category they belong in, but some letters touch on multiple areas, so don’t be surprised to see baby advice in the “Family” section. You can help us by letting us know what section of the Mom-To-Mom you would like to be included in when you send your letter.

Thank you for submitting your question to our Motherhood magazine. We are always excited to hear from our readers. If your question is not selected for publication by our team that carefully reviews each letter, we still want to ensure that you receive a response. We kindly ask that you include your address when submitting your question so that we can respond to you directly.

Mom Mom Mom Mom

While we may not be able to provide a public response to all questions, we will do our best to provide you with a thoughtful and helpful answer. Thank you again for your interest in our magazine and for your submission. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to hearing from you.

Pregnancy, Mothers, and Babies

The largest section in the magazine focuses on all the questions and answers pertaining to pregnancy, delivery, nursing, and babies younger than one year old.

Family

Letters that do not fall into the other two categories go here. Questions and advice about children older than one year old, ailments, and chores as well as cleaning, gardening, and everything in-between can be found here.

Women

This section addresses the needs and issues that are unique to women including infertility, intimacy, hormones, home and household, and advice for other women.

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