I read about this in Smithsonian and had to share it. To summarize:

Anna Jarvis thought there should be a holiday to celebrate mothers. After years of lobbying, President Wilson signed Mother's Day as a holiday in 1914, and it took off like crazy.

But by 1923, Jarvis was mad. "Charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and other termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations," she wrote of florists and candy makers.

And she didn't stop at insults. In New York City, there was to be a Mother's Day rally to benefit handicapped children. But she called that they had violated her copyright on the term Mother's Day, and filed a lawsuit against the governor, the mayor, the police commissioner, a US senator, and two reverends. And so they were forced to cancel the event.

By 1943 and after decades of wank, she was committed, her bills being paid by the Florists' Exchange. And despite saying she was sorry she started the whole thing, people sent her Mother's Day cards every May.

If you want to read the whole article, I scanned it.