Saturday, November 15, 2008

Tales from really stupid advertising...

Oh, Motrin. In case you hadn't heard, women have earned the right to vote, speak before being spoken to, have a growing influence on this crazy "new" thing called the internet, and even make up a HUGE portion of your consumer base.

So guess what happens when you decide to air a potentially offensive "mommy" ad where the speaker basically says babywearing is something we do just to look like an official mom and thank God we have Motrin to save us? The Twitter world goes nuts with mommy bloggers reacting to your ad and telling all their readers that Motrin is no friend of moms.

Beware the mommy bloggers, Motrin. They can be an unforgiving bunch.

And, since I am always an advocate of letter writing I had to let Motrin know what a bad move their ad was. And if you think it's a crappy ad, head over here and let them know for yourself.

Check out my letter below:

Wow. The new Motrin "babywearing" ad is beyond offensive. Couldn't your ad people do better than that? Or are you actually trying to alienate a whole demographic of people?

What's next? Breastfeeding is "supposedly" good for babies but we moms really only do it for attention. So, take Motrin when it starts hurting.

Or maybe, Raising toddlers is a pain in the butt and I only do it for the tax break so when they get on my nerves I take a Motrin to feel better.

If you guys play your cards right, you could actually turn this into a whole "Being a mom is miserable and thankless but knowing I can take Motrin makes it worth it" campaign.

Yeah, that might play really well.Link

Bravo Motrin. You just lost one family's business for sure.
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Go here to see the ad that's causing all the fuss.

And check out what other mommy bloggers have to say here at Perfectly Natural.




7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so right....I AM offended. What a load of crap. Who the heck wrote that ad anyway? Somebody needs to get fired yo!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for acting so quickly to get the word out. I posted about this to and have linked to you:
http://mommosttraveled.com/a-devout-baby-wearer/

I am so tired of being marginalized by the media and PR companies who only see “dumb” moms as someone who can be manipulated as a source of revenue.

Kim N said...

Wow. Even my husband was shocked at this ad. The tone was terrible and whoever thought of this needs to be fired.

Anonymous said...

I don't see what the big deal is.

peace|dewde

Rae said...

I had no idea that there was an official name for this. I thought it was just carrying your baby!

Land of Lovings said...

@Dewde

It's probably the type of ad that would really only offend a certain group of moms. But, the problem is that it is the moms who are very vocal online and in social media. Motrin must have seen the big deal when they heard how moms reacted because they took the ad down today and issued an apology.

At the very least, I think you'd have to admit it is a fascinating look at viral marketing and the need for big companies to have someone who is in touch with the heartbeat of social media.

Check out this link: http://tinyurl.com/5gjapw. It had some really interesting info on this "Motrin mom Twitter storm."

Unknown said...

Very cool. Good work! I did not get to read the ad but WOW at the apology!