When moms attack

 
Johnson & Johnson’s Motrin is supposed to ease back pain. Instead, it ended up being more of a pain in the backside for J&J, after an attempt to get cute and patronising with moms backfired in the face of the healthcare giant.

The online and print campaign for Motrin, created by Taxi, New York suggested that mothers carried their babies as fashion accessories. Ooh la la, what a faux pas that was.

The campaign, which broke on the 30th of September 2008 has now been officially pulled. And it all happened over the weekend.

On Friday evening, Jessica Gottlieb an influential blogger from LA, who admits to being ‘tipped off’ about the campaign, started twittering about the campaign in a not very friendly way. Next day, Katja Presnal, a New York blogger collected tweets from upset moms, stitched together a rough video and posted it on YouTube.

Behold the power of social media. It took just a couple of days and a few thousand followers to bring about the demise of a campaign AND cause near-fatal damage to a strong brand.

Lucky for J&J, their VP for Marketing, Kathy Widmer appears to be a strong believer in social media herself. She’s been quick to issue an apology and ask for forgiveness on the Motrin home page.

Hopefully, the once irate moms will reciprocate with a quick pardon.

Asif Ansari is partner and creative director at The Duffy Agency. He loves writing, technology and beer.