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Motrin Moms Commercial causes outrage. Thing is: seriously?

Started by Duncan Riley · 7 months ago

There’s PR controversy afoot in the blogosphere and Twitter today about a commercial for Motrin, a US brand of Ibuprofen.
The commercial is a little tongue in cheek, referring to the practice of wearing children in a sling or similar as being “in fashion”%3 ... Continue reading »

16 comments

  • gregg fraley

    7 months ago

    I take your point. On the other hand there really is no excuse for putting the ad up in the first place. Good market research would have told them the ad wouldn't fly. Why didn't they test this ad with consumers? It's not just a case of people not getting the tongue in cheek aspect, it's a case study of what can go wrong when you don't really listen to your consumer. This is not just an Ad that missed a bit, it's an add that does damage to their brand.
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  • Louis Gray

    7 months ago

    Maybe Motrin can do a follow-on ad for those of us constantly rocking our kids in bouncy seats. I know my right knee was tired and I couldn't figure out why, but after 2 days of taking on the twins full time so my wife could do her paper, I could use something. :-)

    And ... I dig our slings and baby carriers. Do we get sore? Sure, but most of the time, no. If I hold the sling wrong, it'll wrack my neck, but usually, it's no big deal.
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  • tweetip

    7 months ago

    #motrinmoms ~ 1st Tweets ~ timeline & chart http://tweetip.us/lkmhe
    reply
  • ontarioemperor

    7 months ago

    The one thing to remember is that the customer is always right. If it was just one person running around spouting about it I'd discount it somewhat, or if was a bunch of people who hadn't seen the ad I'd discount it somewhat, but I just watched the 9 minute YouTube video that showed a series of tweets from people, most if not all of whom had seen the ad, and all of whom were displeased if not outraged. At the time I'm writing this, we don't know why the Motrin site is down (i.e. whether Motrin brought it down, high traffic brought it down, or something/someone brought it down), but when negative consumer reaction adversely affects your site, then you know you've made a mistake with your target audience.
    reply
  • Duncan Riley

    7 months ago

    ontarioemperor,
    I don't disagree with your overall premise, but you also can't please all your customers, ever. I can't, when you find the secret recipe, share it. A couple of self promoters who are now spamming comment thread on this are driving this, not some great widespread, mainstream upswell of protest. I'm betting that Motrin will sell MORE now because of it.
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  • ontarioemperor

    7 months ago

    Good point, and I'll grant that negative news travels faster than positive news. Any way to quantify supporters vs. opponents on this one?
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  • Tyler

    7 months ago

    totally agree!
    reply
  • garazy

    7 months ago

    I thought exactly the same thing. I liked the style of the advert (the graphical representation) it reminded me of "I met the Walrus" - http://g2007.com/blog/gary/index.php/2008/07/12...
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  • igorthetroll

    7 months ago

    Some people have problems with Parody! Nothing new! ;-)

    But these guys getting some great free PR via Guerrilla Marketing!

    Motrin is Smart! Learned from Apple.
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  • Noah David Simon

    7 months ago

    SNARKY SNARKY... easy ladies. Anything that seems to permeate around these spheres of ladies is not to be taken seriously. Ironically it wasn't a woman I heard about this from...
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  • dcfemella

    7 months ago

    Totally agree. Guerilla marketing at its best.
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  • Kristine

    7 months ago

    People have just so got to get over themselves. The ad was funny precisely because it was was an honest and self-depricating reflection on the self-sacrifice of parenthood.
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  • dcfemella

    7 months ago

    People need to get a life. We have become ridiculously PC in this country. Instead of focusing on what is wrong with our lives, we try and divert our attention to insignificant things.
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  • JenZingsheim

    7 months ago

    You are spot on. All this fracas does is make bloggers look less relevant (and devoid of humor). I feel badly for Motrin, who in no way, shape, or form deserve this piling on by a vocal few who lack perspective.
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  • Michael Bailey

    7 months ago

    As I said on Twitter - they should have put a man in the ad and then everyone would be saying "Ahhhh that's sooo cute!" om nom nom
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  • Fast Eddie Felson

    7 months ago

    WTF - I never had a sling, I carried the damn thing. Pain? Try Wild Turkey. Walk the kid into the bar. If it's early enough in the day, put fifty cents in the pool table and let 'em bang the balls around.
    reply

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