Have you heard all the controversy over this Motrin ad?? Motrin is trying to appeal to moms by making a case that wearing your baby, in slings and carriers, hurts your back, so you should use Motrin.? There has been a huge outcry from baby wearing groups, moms, and doctors.? To the point where Motrin had to take down the ads and post an apology on their website.
Too much?? I don’t know.? Maybe the ad goes a little over the line.? But I watched it, and if you ask me, the tone is firmly tongue in cheek.? After all, they’re trying to sell pain medicine, not make a statement about baby wearing. I have used a baby carrier many times, and sometimes, it actually does hurt my back.
Motrin had to know this would cause a bit of controversy.? That’s probably why they did it in the first place.? Issue an apology, get lots and lots of free press.
Or maybe they had no clue they would get this reaction.? If that’s the case, look out.? The last thing you want is to piss off a bunch of moms.? Especially ones that have recently had babies and are probably hormonal.
Uh oh, I apologize.? I shouldn’t have made that insensitive remark about new moms.? The last thing I want to do is start a controversy ;-)
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As I’ve been saying all along, ladies need to see things from our side. Dads, and stay-at-home dads especially, are denigrated and insulted in ads on a daily basis and few think anything of it. Tongue-in-cheek ads take shots at dads all the time and no one gets as bent out of shape as people have over this Motrin nonsense.
Wonderful double standard ain’t it?
have you seen the similar mom-targeted one about sore boobs? i think both are a little offensive in “joking” that it makes one look like a “real mom”. i, myself, am not a mom yet so i can kind of laugh–but i can also see where the uproar is coming from!
In a world where ads offend us every day, this one hardly ranks as historically significant in that regard. To wit, I think good ole boys may want to take aim at Chrysler for their moronic Dodge Ram ads that, among other things, suggest that this demographic group can’t walk or drive without hideously ugly cowboy boots.
The Motrin folks are doubtless tickled that their brand has gone viral in the process. It’s pretty much irrelevant that the root cause is a negative response. The end result is zillions more people are hearing about and discussing Motrin than would have otherwise been the case.
If the ads hadn’t been controversial, they would have sunk into oblivion like every other ad of their ilk.
Thnkas for taking the time to post. It’s lifted the level of debate
That’s really shdewr! Good to see the logic set out so well.