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Motrin Gives New Moms a Headache

It looks like the power of twittering moms led Motrin to remove an online ad that bloggers felt was derogatory toward new moms who carry their babies in slings. If you missed all the controversy since you don't know what Twitter is (a mini blog site where you post everything and anything about your life, favorite finds, etc.), here's the inside scoop...

While surfing around Twitter, I discovered the latest discussion among in the know moms - Motrin and their new ad campaign geared toward new moms who like to wear their babies in slings and carriers. If you'd like to check it out the ad yourself, feel free to click here and see why moms are annoyed over one company's attempt to relate to them.

The discussion among moms who love baby slings and carriers are simple - they don't get a headache while carrying their kids and they want Motrin to know that they've got them all wrong. In fact, some even complained that the people responsible for these ads are twentysomethings without kids so how do they honestly know what moms are feeling. As a marketer, publicist and mom, I have to agree that these mothers are dead on. You cannot tell your audience what they think unless you're living through it. Now of course, if a sling wearing mama at Motrin came up with the ad campaign, then I take it back, but something tells me, even if a mom was in the brainstorming session for this ad, she probably was an anti-sling wearer so again, she probably couldn't relate to those who actually enjoy carrying their babies this way.

As for me, I did use a Baby Bjorn back in the day and never really got a backache from it - I actually developed a pinched nerve in my neck from my 45 pound purse that I carried back and forth to work every day - so if Motrin really wants to target moms, then I say - here's a surefire way - show a mom carrying a Dooney and Burke satchel bag (that would be me), along with a laptop, Dunkin Donuts coffee and a train ticket. Then follow that woman as she climbs up 75 steps to the train, 75 steps down, maneuvers her way onto the train but is forced to stand the entire time and then keep following her as she arrives at her destination and has to climb another set of stairs so she can hit the subway and travel another 10 minutes downtown on a crowded train.

Finally, once our working mom arrives at her office, watch as she rubs her neck, squints her eyes and asks her co-worker if she has any aspirin. Now that's a commercial I can get behind.

Have you ever gotten a headache from wearing a sling or a heavy bag? We want to hear from you!

Posted in: Undercover Mom on 11/16/2008