Over the course of a weekend, pharmaceutical manufacturer McNeil Consumer Healthcare and distributor Pfizer were virtually attacked by online mobs of angry mothers (and a fair number of fathers) in reaction to a video debuting on motrin.com about women and baby slings.
I won’t rehash the issues, as David Armano provides a comprehensive summary about the headache of moms through tweets and blogs.
More detail can be had by Jessica Gottlieb who takes the blame for starting the #MotrinMoms Twitter movement. Amy Gates at Crunchy Domestic Goddess is another prolific writer of three consecutive blog posts on the Motrin issue, with over 100 collective comments.
Maybe you haven’t heard of any of this until now. Maybe you are sheltered from the web, or don’t network with others online.
That’s OK, which adds to the importance of an online echo chamber so social media consultants and bloggers like me, B.L. Ochman, Peter Kim, Andy Beal, Liz Strauss, and Mack Collier, among dozens more, continue to question why advertising and marketing firms do traditional business as-usual without engaging in new media.
As Ogilvy PR’s Sarah Marchetti summarizes the Motrin crisis and the importance of the medium:
At the time of this post, McNeil’s VP of Marketing, Kathy Widmer, has started replying via e-mail to bloggers who posted about the Motrin ads with a very nice note apologizing for the ad and assuring the moms that they take consumer feedback very seriously and will pull the ads as soon as they can.
I think this is a great first response and fairly timely, but McNeil needs to go further with their crisis response first thing tomorrow morning using social media to address this social media crisis.
It’s 5 a.m. as I write this and the motrin.com site remains down.
I wonder what McNeil’s, Pfizer’s and Taxi New York City’s (the ad agency) Monday morning staff meetings will include. If only I could be a fly on the wall.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the link and discussion, Ari. As you probably know by now, the Motrin site is back up, with an apology. I think that will likely put the ‘Twitterstorm’ to bed, but moving forward will be interesting to see if Motrin begins more closely monitoring the only conversation around their brand.
Hi Ari – Thanks for the link and the wrap-up. I’m not so sure the Motrin response will put the issue to bed. Seth Godin http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/11/we-feel-your-pa.html just weighed in saying their response is typically corporate, obviously the product of a committee, and equals nothing more than a missed opportunity to connect. I think he’s exactly right.
BL
B.L Ochman´s last blog post..Social Media Storm Spreads as Motrin Ad Angers Moms
Thanks for the link and for all the other really great ones too.
I had no idea that this would become it’s own life force. I figured I’d reach 500 of my readers.
Jessica Gottlieb´s last blog post..Countdown to the Jonas Brothers
While the Motrin ad was insulting to mothers and the incident was interesting from a social media perspective, it simply reminds me of how I wish we would devote this type of energy to more important issues. As a mother, a more pressing issue to me is that 2007 stats show that 700,000 children in this country were hungry. And I’m sure that number has gone up considerably. But rather than rallying to help hungry kids we are banding together to take down a misguided advertisement.
Kim Woodbridge´s last blog post..5 New(ish) WordPress Themes
Definitely shows how a mass mob on social media can create results much quicker than mailing or calling a company. Now you can send your attack message and get tons of other people to join in with you. I agree Kim, maybe people should apply that kind of enthusiasm towards something to make a difference.
~ Kristi
Kikolani | Poetry, Photography, Blogging Tips´s last blog post..Rays of Sunlight
I suppose time will tell if Motrin takes its customers’ medication or will continue to plan future campaigns in the same light.
Like BL, I’m not convinced that Mack is correct and the issue is dead, as much as I’d like to think so.
Jessica, thanks for helping to start this grassroots movement. Maybe “Yes We Can” should be attributed to you and Katja?
And Kim and Kristi, I know exactly what you mean. Who wants to start something?
As a mom that was against the entire Motrin Moms movement, my face forward blog regarding this whole thing being silly, has earned me a reputation of anti-moms. I was told that it was me that opened a twitter name to make fun of the moms, when I actually just posted on my blog my opinion very publicly here
http://www.momdot.com/motrinmoms/
The movement about pinning a blame on another mom for a made up twitter name has also spread like wildfire and is my exact point that social network can be comprised of grown up complainers that need to focus time and energy into something that makes a world of difference…perhaps education about babywearing would have been a more appropriate response.
On the crap end of it, I am getting a backlash from the same community I blog in, all for having a seperate opinion, and blamed for something I didnt do.
I need a motrin.
trisha haas
http://www.momdot.com
trisha´s last blog post..This site is pretty fun! Bored at work?