Image via CrunchBase
Can you say stupid with a slice of WTF?
Last night, my Twitter started going off with angry tweets regarding an ad on the Motrin website. I can’t show you the ad because it’s been pulled. Let me describe it:
It was a way too long video with a voiceover of some whiny mom complaining about something. The words she was saying were being tossed acrossed the screen in what was probably some misdirected attempt at hipness. After I woke from a nap, the woman was still droning on and she started talking about how she uses a carrier (which somehow is painful) to make her look like an “official mommy”.
Let the shitstorm begin.
All day long, as I checked into various social media sites, women with too much time on their hands were writing overwrought posts talking about the ad was ‘insulting’. To whom, was unclear. Some moms were offended by it because they were adoptive parents. Some because their kids were older. Some because they never use(d) a carrier with their babies. Others because they know that if worn right a carrier isn’t painful at all. But they were insulted and seeking vengeance.
Insulted.
Mommy bloggers you won the internets today. Your prize?
Later this afternoon, childless people, men and those who have lives walked into this dust up trying to figure out the problem with the ad. Most of them realized quickly that the ad wasn’t anything to get upset about and moved on with their lives. Sadly, the mommy bloggers didn’t. They were making videos y’all. Videos.
THUD.
A few hours ago, the Motrin website went down. Crazed mommy bloggers cyber-high-fived one another. That’ll show Motrin. Mess with us and our faux outrage.
Well, Motrin finally responded and was a lot nicer than I would have been if I were doing the PR for the company:
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
So now there’s even more vindication, but even worse, the masturbatory “See what Social Media can do?” posts are going up. It’s like a Daisy chain gone bad. And this is why I don’t call myself a mommy blogger. This is why I try to stay away from mom blogs. This is why some people shouldn’t be allowed to use a fucking computer.
I will say that I am extremely jealous at the swift and angry reaction of these women. Just think of what they could do if they organized to help the poverty-stricken or cure real injustices in the world. I wish everything in my life was so perfect that I would have the luxury to get all agitated over a damn ad.
The Bitches Gone Wild: The Motrin Drama by Anika Malone, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Tags: Advertising, Motrin, social media, twitter