Anna Jarvis filed—or, in some accounts, threatened—a lawsuit over the commercialization of Mother's Day in 1923.
By the early 1920s, Jarvis believed the holiday she had created as a personal day of gratitude was being turned into a commercial event. Florists promoted carnations, confectioners sold holiday goods, and greeting-card companies encouraged preprinted messages. Jarvis argued that people should write heartfelt letters or visit their mothers instead of relying on purchased merchandise.
Her 1923 dispute centered on plans for a large Mother's Day celebration in New York associated with Governor Al Smith and other organizers. Jarvis objected to the event's scale and commercial character, and the plans were ultimately canceled. Contemporary and later accounts differ on whether a formal lawsuit was actually filed or whether she principally threatened legal action, but 1923 is the established date linked to the episode.
Her protest did not end her campaign. In 1925, she disrupted an American War Mothers convention in Philadelphia over the sale of white carnations and was arrested for disturbing the peace. She later even sought to have Mother's Day rescinded.