Chapter 6: Family Time

At Christmas in 2018, the holiday company Center Parcs¹ launched its advertising campaign for 2019 with the theme ‘This is family’.² The TV campaign comprised three films about the fictional Parson family, Dave (Dad), Jo (Mum) and Sam (Big Sister). The fourth member, Sam’s younger brother, does not have his own film but features in the films narrated by the other three members. The format of the films is the same: they all begin with the narrator stating I am Dave/Jo/Sam Parson and summarising who they are during the week. Dave is a grumpy, worried worker; Jo operates as half machine, constantly wrangling with people to get things done; and Sam is a moody teenager who gets blamed for most things and complains that her brother is a brat. During their weekend at Center Parcs, they each have the opportunity to be someone different to these versions of themselves and to do something different. Over the weekend, they are no longer Dave, Jo or Sam; they become Dad/Mum/Big Sister, respectively. They go on bike rides, water slides and zip wires together, and by spending time with each other, they become ‘family’. The promotion of a holiday as providing the space and time for families to spend quality time together is a mainstay of holiday promotion,³ and the Center Parcs films are not breaking any new ground in using images of family members having fun. However, these films take this motif further; the message is that Dave, Jo and Sam are so busy multitasking responsibilities and obligations during the week that they do not have time to be the family they want to be or think they should be. Their weekend away is not just about having a good time and enjoying the company of family. Time that is free from their weekly duties gives them the opportunity to perform their idealised family roles. The roles of Mum, Dad and Big Sister are not simply acquired through the positional status of being a mother, father or sibling. These roles require time and space away from everyday domestic routines to be enacted and to enrich the potential of doing family together.