Moms Are Motrin-fied Over Recent Ad

Published November 18, 2008 @ 08:56PM PT

Perhaps you've already read about the backlash against the recent Motrin advertisement that supposedly meant to identify with women, but in fact, offended about 90% of them.

Feministing called the ad just "a tad condescending" while Blogher titled it "Motringate." Queen of Spain hit the nail on the head saying that the problem with the ad wasn't so much about the company missing the [f*cking] point - it was about the fact that the wrath of the Mommy bloggers wasn't considered something to worry about:

It’s no longer us screaming to be recognized. I no longer need to lift my shirt to demand breastfeeding gets respect. I no longer need to stomp my feet and be as snarky as possible when a company obviously has no clue how to engage mommybloggers.

For those who haven't seen it yet - here is the advertisement that caused all the trouble:

As a marketing professional, I would definitely say that the negative reaction to this is a pretty big deal and it should serve as a reminder to creative agencies to do their research before setting forth into the wild wild web.

With the rise of online organizing through back channel conversations on listservs, in combination with the open channel communication on blogs and Twitter, any misstep in terms of online advertising can severely affect a brand's online and off line presence - just one bad experience can be shared and multiplied in a matter of minutes resulting in some pretty difficult PR hurdles.

Additionally, while women make up 52% of the population, they also make 83% of all purchasing decisions. Thus, this is a backlash that will not only turn off moms - but also their husbands and families. The target audience was just not well-studied, and the language in the ad is pretty offensive considering the sensitivities at hand.

Like the rest of the ladies out there - I was frankly, "motrin-fied" at the advertisement. But, what's even more shocking is that there was a whole series of ads targeting the female psyche - another of which may have also "stepped" beyond the boundaries and could create a larger headache for Motrin in the long term.

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Author

Jen Nedeau is a social media consultant, progressive activist, feminist speaker and writer. She currently lives in New York City, where she works full-time as the Director of Digital Strategy at Air America Media. In August 2008, Nedeau was selected to be the Editor of the WomensRights.Change.Org where she facilitates daily discussion about the feminist movement. Additionally, Nedeau volunteers as the Chief Technology Officer for New Leaders Council, a non-profit that offers exclusive training for young leaders. You can follow her on Twitter @HumanFolly or learn more here: www.jennedeau.com.