Motrin Bows to Social Media Pressure From Moms - Removes Controversial Ad
One would think that few ads could be less controversial than ads for painkillers, but over the weekend, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the maker of Motrin, found itself in the middle of a major controversy on Twitter, FriendFeed, and other social networks. Motrin's latest ad discusses the advantages of using the painkiller for mothers who 'wear' their babies close to their body with a sling or other baby carriers and who might suffer from back pain because of it. A lot of mothers (and fathers) were clearly not amused by these ads and Motrin has now decided to remove them and has issued an apology.
The ad, like a lot of ads, is offensive because it is boring and talks down to its target audience (and also because it stole its use of typography from a popular YouTube video (note: language in the video might be offensive to some)). Motrin clearly didn't understand its market, but it is hard not to consider the 'outrage' over this video to be a bit of an overreaction as well.
This affair is also a good example of how much power a vocal minority can have thanks to social media. The controversy has already gone beyond Twitter, and mainstream news outlets will surely pick this story up within the next day or two.
We Feel Your Pain
Motrin, as Seth Godin points out, had a chance here to reconnect with its customers by using social media to reach out to them with its apology, but the company issued a standard press release-style apology on its site instead. That might seem old-fashioned, but for most companies, that's the only way they know how to operate.
Learning from Comcast
More and more users expect companies to reach out to them directly through social media, so just having a social media presence is not enough anymore. When controversies like this one happen (whether deserved or not), smart companies will reach out to consumers directly to stop these fires right where they started. A pioneer of this is obviously Comcast, whose 'Director of Digital Care' Frank Eliason reaches out to any and all Twitter users who tweet about issues with the company's service.
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One thing to point out about Comcast's type of customer service is that first and foremost it's a relationship building experience and only after that is it support. I say this because Frank and his team don't just reach out when there are one-time issues, they are there to make sure there aren't problems in the future.
The current corporate design seems to miss this point every time. It's easy to be reactive and say, "Let me give you a credit for your unhappiness" but it's much harder and better to be ahead of the game and to make sure people aren't unhappy from the start.
Yeah, this is a bit of a storm in a teacup, the ad was hardly "controversial". The result of this is more an example of how much noise a bunch of bloggers and twitters can make. Sure, it's not a great ad, but really, you want to take a company to task for this? One of the major amplifiers in this case was a lot of social media experts and SMORES commenting on it during providing a very intense echo chamber. IMHO companies need to do a better job of sorting through real controversy and the results of intense echo chambers.
1st Tweets ~ timeline & chart updated #motrinmoms… http://tweetip.us/lknkw
Ironically, the ad in my RSS feed for this story was "Are you on glue? GetGlue.com".
Fortunately I don't have a large social network, and I have the tiniest sense of humor.
The tag "we feel your pain" suggests that they know something about people like me and that they empathize with our aches and pains. Critiquing (ridiculing?) anyone's child-raising choices is the opposite of empathy and inevitably stirred up resentment. After all, who doesn't believe they're doing the best they can to raise a happy, healthy baby?
Motrin's campaign worked much better when it stuck to less controversial but still genuine insights about women and their life choices. Here's one of their better online executions, built on the insight that being a mom shouldn't have to mean giving up all attempts to be "hot" -
Motrin "High Heels" 300x250
More insights like this would have kept them out of the spotlight!
I don't see the problem with the ad. It says strapping a baby on your front may cause back pain. That seems sensible to me. What is the problem with saying that? The ad doesn't say these people are bad mothers, just that they may have back pain.
I guess people will complain about anything.
Typography style reminded me a lot of this ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnfE5zODgak Wonder if it was the same company?
You might want to check out MOMbo TV's perspective on the Motrin fiasco. I agree that some people got way too worked up, but MOMbo's criticism of the ad is one that I can understand. http://www.mombotv.com
I also just don't see the problem with this add.
There are bigger battles to fight - it's sad that a company would actually retract and add that I feel would leave most people indifferent.
If I might add my two bits on the subject. It reminds me of an ad written in the time of Madmen it is so far out of touch! I will only comment on the fact that visually the creative team lifted this piece that was very popular on the Internet in advertising circles about two years ago. WARNING! This does include swearing as it is an audio clip from Pulp Fiction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HePWBNcugf8
What is the problem with this ad? It might not lead to gaining customers. But I do not find it offensive at all. Much ado about nothing.
This Motrin flap is similar to what happened with The Pork Council when they issued a cease and desist order to Jennifer Laycock, prominent search marketer and blogger at the Lactavist, from using their modified slogan, "The Other White Milk."
But I'm really commenting on the irony regarding Comcast and their interest to reach out to its customers.
As a recent victim of Hurricane Ike, we were out of power for two weeks including Internet/cable access. Once the power came back on, we figured Internet would follow. Phone calls to Comcast gave us no ETA, no consideration nor sympathy. Other snafus/misinformation too long to get into.
Frank Eliason can have his Twitter account, but without action and accountability at the retail customer service level, they will continue to lose customers.
Once we learned that AT&T U-verse was available in the neighborhood, we cancelled Comcast and gladly added our name to a 3-week wait list. All my neighbors switched too.
There are bigger battles to fight - it's sad that a company would actually
What a shame that Motrin didn't seize this opportunity to connect with their customers via social media and make themselves transparent and open to communication. What a great example this is for me and other companies who want to connect with present, past and future customers! We http://www.heponline.com/ are very much into open communication on sites like twitter, facebook & friendfeed! Thanks for the post.
Posted by: Janet Crance
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August 25, 2009 8:59 AM