Motrin’s ad campaign targeting Moms a failure ?

There’s a backlash of negative Social media PR heading your way on twitter and mom blogs … directed at who ? Take a look;

In the three minutes it took me imbed the above video 10 more comments on twitter have appeared using the tag ‘ #motrinmoms ‘.

Two things about the Motrin Mom situation are intriguing me at the moment

1) The amazing power of Twitter to reach a large corporation in a VERY short period of time.

It seems Johnson & Johnson is pulling the Motrin ad off their website and out of print. I applaud the twitter moms for understanding the value of social media to get their concern heard by a large Corporation.

2) I am confused how a company known for understanding mothers let the ball drop on this one.

A Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman responded to Mather Harper with comments like; “ I am, myself, a mom of 3 daughters.” and  “we had intended to demonstrate genuine sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their babies”.

I was not a baby wearing mom (I stopped when my son was about 5 months). However even I know that a properly fitted and worn sling should not cause back ache. I also recognize  the value of both sling wearing and breastfeeding.

Some Moms may have found this video amusing. However, the majority of mothers I know (baby wearing or not) felt this ad could damage the hard work done to educate mothers on the benefits of baby wearing.

This ad may have been successful if they simply removed the crazy mom mention ( I know as a mom I have my crazy moments – they aren’t my shining ones and really please don’t highlight them;) and replaced it with a website offering tips on how to properly wear your sling to prevent back pain and how Motrin can help you in the mean time.  By promoting the use of slings they could brand their product with the positive instead of branding their product with the negative impacts of a improperly worn sling inadvertably sending out a message that sling wearing causes pain.