For those who have seen the recent Motrin Ads, many of you are aware of the outrage it sparked (particularly amongst mothers). The ad was a narrative from a mother who claimed that toting a baby close to you will make you look like an “official mom” and people will understand why mothers who do this look “tired and crazy.”  

Now if I’m not mistaken the intention was for Motrin to show that their products can relieve pain in the shoulders and neck caused by wearing these baby totes.  In addition they wanted to reach the target audience and communicate on their level. Part of their message was “we feel your pain”.

(I assume) Motrin wanted to encourage and engage the audience in discussions about their brand.  They also utilized ‘International Baby Wearing Week’ as a platform to launch this campaign.  Although the intentions were solid and the basic tools were established for a clever campaign, this proved to be a disaster. Twitter and Blogger-moms slammed the ads harder than Vince Carter with a basketball in 2000.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to catch the ad on Motrin’s website, however, the outrage that has stemmed from women and mothers in the social media community, lead to the ads being pulled from Motrin’s official website. I am most certain that you can find it on YouTube.  

This is another example of how advertising and communications has changed dramatically within a few years. Gone are the days of one-way communications between advertisers and consumers. We are now experiencing first hand how social media has and continues to shape the way messages are created and accepted. Consumers are no longer passive recipients of marketing messages.

I’m (obviously) not a mother nor am I married so I can’t say I’m outraged by the ads nor am I offended—but before I start getting death threats, I can see why women and particularly mothers would be perturbed.

For those who have seen the ads…what are your thoughts?