Backlash From Moms Prompts Motrin To Pull Ad

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.

Among the colorful Twitter commentary:

- "Picking on new mothers is vile, it's as vulnerable as we will ever be and they should know better."

- "I can't even count the ways I am offended right now. Taken aback! This is a serious screw up for such a major company."

- "Wow Motrin, you REALLY messed up with that ad. No more Motrin for my family. MobileMommy."

- "I credit a large portion of my children's happiness to baby wearing. thecouponcoup."

- "NO to Motrin. Generic ibuprofen works for me! And wearing my son never gave me back pain. cutiebootycakes."

"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 in an interview.

He said the ad still will appear in a few magazines hitting newsstands now or in the next few weeks. Those include the parenting magazine Cookie and a shopping magazine, Lucky.

The apology doesn't appear to have closed the subject, though.

One blogger with some spare time or perhaps a nanny put together a video of criticism highlights.

Meanwhile, lots of blogger moms, and some dads, continue posting, with many saying they don't see why the ad became such a big deal - a good question, as Boston said the video ad was first posted back on Sept. 30 but didn't draw comments until recently.

Remarks Monday included "In all seriousness, can't the motrinmoms find something more important to get irate about? I mean, c'mon ... Darfur, maybe?"