How Twittering Critics Brought Down Motrin Mom Campaign

November 20th, 2008 Tom Okeefe

Thanks to everyone Twittering!!!!!!

Bloggers Ignite Brush Fire Over Weekend, Forcing J&J to Pull Ads, Issue Apology

By Michael Learmonth and Rupal Parekh

Published: November 17, 2008
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Johnson & Johnson did manage to offend some mothers with an online and print campaign for Motrin that implied moms carry their babies as fashion accessories. But was it a genuine groundswell that felled the effort — or an alliance of the few, empowered by microblogging service Twitter?

The campaign was an attempt to connect with moms through the common experience (and pain) of carrying a child.

Two days after a new ad push for Motrin triggered an online backlash, J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit is pulling the campaign, from the New York office of independent shop Taxi, and begging a vocal mommy-blogging nation for forgiveness.

The campaign, which was featured on Motrin’s website, as well as in several magazines, was an attempt to connect with moms through the common experience (and pain) of carrying a child. But the implication felt by some of the campaign’s more vocal critics was that moms wear their babies as fashion accessories, or because it “totally makes me look like an official mom.”

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  • Just goes to show you that you really have to be careful, and think about the undertones that your message is sending.
  • Campaigns like this will definitely sound different to each of us. Some will took this as just like the other ads. others will feel bad. social media are use to say a lot of things about this. They're not only showing their disgrace with the ad showing their opinion and all but also letting everyone know what is the product within the ad. Maybe this is bad because their telling that somehow mothers wear their babies as fashion accessories but actually they just love it and its part of showing their love and care to their baby in some ways. wearing them makes you look like an official mom? doesn't some moms don't want to look like a "mom" even if they do or even if their with their kids. They want to always be pretty and sexy.
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