Motrin-Annoyed Moms Fight Back

1. Motrin launched this ad:
2. Moms felt annoyed by the patronizing tone of the ad. If you’re wondering why, consider the additions of the phrase ‘seems to be in fashion’ and the word ‘supposedly’ to the copy. Can those not be condescending?
3. Someone from the site Imperfect Parent decided to take matters into their own hands and reply to the ad with an ad of their own:
4. And they’re not alone. Tons of other folks have made videos or posted a rebuttal to Motrin.
5. Considering the Motrin product line includes Children’s Motrin, Children’s Motrin Cold, Junior Strength Motrin and Infant’s Motrin, Johnson and Johnson (Motrin’s parent company) should be working with the customers, not offending them.
6. Motrin apologized on their website and directly to folks who contacted them:

Dear Amy -

I am the Vice President of Marketing for McNeil Consumer Healthcare. I have responsibility for the Motrin Brand, and am responding to concerns about recent advertising on our website. I am, myself, a mom of 3 daughters.

We certainly did not mean to offend moms through our advertising. Instead, we had intended to demonstrate genuine sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their babies. We believe deeply that moms know best and we sincerely apologize for disappointing you. Please know that we take your feedback seriously and will take swift action with regard to this ad. We are in process of removing it from our website. It will take longer, unfortunately, for it to be removed from magazine print as it is currently on newstands and in distribution.

-Kathy
Kathy Widmer
VP of Marketing – Pain, Pediatrics, GI, Specialty
McNeil Consumer Healthcare
xxx-yyy-zzzz
personal-email@domain-name.com

7. But the ad isn’t going to go away in our web age. It’ll be archived and searchable. The NYTimes has covered the story.

So, here’s an idea.

Perhaps Motrin will commission their next ad from their customers. They’ve proven able to create compelling ads. They’ve proven passionate about the products. They’ve proven they can connect and direct attention.

So, instead of guessing what they want, why not work with them and let them say what they want?

Now that sounds like it provides some pain relief.

Tags:
babies, carrying babies, moms, Motrin, pain relief, patronizing, People-Powered Advertising, video ads, videos, youtube

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I also spotted this ad from Motrin for the same campaign, playing to ‘hot moms’:

http://adverlicio.us/motrin_high_heels_300x250