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Motrin Feels Pain Of Upset Moms

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The Associated Press

Published: November 18, 2008

TRENTON, N.J. - Can a tongue-in-cheek ad for a popular pain reliever backfire and turn into a huge headache for one of the most respected health product marketers?

You bet - if the ad appears to be making fun of new mothers and their babies.

That's what happened over the weekend with an edgy Johnson & Johnson video ad for Motrin that riffed on the trend of new mothers "wearing their babies" in slings and wraps, saying the devices cause back and neck pain. The ad was on the Web site motrin .com, implying that Motrin, made by J&J's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit, would help moms deal with what it called "a good kind of pain."

"Supposedly it's a real bonding experience," the announcer says over catchy graphics. "It totally makes me look like an official mom."

Wrong approach, apparently.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of "mom bloggers" started blasting the ad on the social networking site Twitter, with quite a few suggesting a Motrin boycott.

J&J, upon learning of the criticism, took the site down over the weekend. On Monday, it went back up, with the video ad replaced by an apology from McNeil Consumer Healthcare marketing head Kathy Widmer.

"The company takes feedback from parents and caregivers very seriously and we sincerely apologize for any concerns raised" by the ad, McNeil spokesman Marc Boston said.

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