• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 8, 2012

The digital age may be upon us, but don’t even think about giving Mom a smartphone for Mother's Day. She’d rather have something much more touchy-feely, like a trip with the (grown up) kids, or a massage or fine jewelry. Even a night out with Dad would beat getting an e-reader.

At least that’s the conclusion of a study that Mindshare conducted that polled adults about how they’d like to celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend.

Almost 25% of respondents said they would take their moms on a weekend trip for Mother’s Day -- the most favored gift among a wide range of choices, per the survey.

After the weekend trip, a spa day (18%), a piece of fine jewelry (18%), a night out with Dad (12%) and a new summer wardrobe (10%) were the top responses.

But the survey also revealed that technical gadgets like smartphones, e-readers and Internet-enabled TVs were at the bottom of the list of preferred gifts for Moms.

“These responses solidify a theme that is continuously emerging from our research -- the desire for the ‘human touch’ trumps the desire for an iTouch,” stated Mark Potts, managing director, Mindshare North America.  “As we continuously monitor the consumer pulse, we have noted that real people -- rather than anonymous reviews and reviewers -- hold unique influence and sway over purchasing decisions.”

The study was part of Mindshare North America’s “Culture Vulture” series of reports. The survey was conducted online and fielded late last month among a sample of 1,052 nationally representative adults 18 years of age or older.

Tech-oriented gifts ranked behind almost all other responses, with just 8% choosing a tablet or e-reader. Only 6% said they would give the gift of an Internet-enabled television, and only 5% said they would give mom a smartphone.

Culture Vulture is Mindshare’s cultural trends survey platform directed at identifying macro and micro trends that are useful to the marketing and communications strategies of the shop’s clients.

Potts noted that, “in the seemingly endless sea of product and service reviews offered to consumers via social media and other online sources, consumers always hone back to the opinions of those they most trust.”