Does this ad offend you?

Because some US mommies don't like it one bit. The pain relief ad - created to target moms - has drawn ire on the Internet and even led to calls for boycotts. The New York Times wrote about the firestorm, and how the Motrin ad touched off a wave of negative response in blogs and on Twitter. Peter Shankman, a PR whiz, said of company:

"The problem is, Motrin happened to mess up at the expense, and in the face of, one of the most vocal, quickest-to-blog, “strongest-to-band-together-and-form-one-opinion-like-the-Borg” collectives out there - The Mommy-Blogging community."

Adfreak.com describes it:

"The spot comes off sounding pretty insulting to these moms, whom it implies are treating their babies like fashion accessories. When mom bloggers got wind of the spot, they started a tidal wave of criticism, flooding Twitter with thousands of angry comments about Motrin."

And guess what? The company responded by taking down the ad and sending a note to bloggers apologising.

This video spoofs the ad, brilliantly.

Comments

[Alan]

Aw, 4 Pete's sake. The ad is actually kind of cute. People just look for reasons 2B offended these days. Bunch of whimpering crybabies.

[Emily]

I think it's really funny.

[Pete]

ZZZZ
Big deal.
Tempest in a teacup.

[Paul]

Honestly, havent u guys and girls got better things to worry about?

Get a life will ya, its only an advertisement.

[Laura Roberts]

Not sure about "offensive". It's just so American.

[AmericanexpatinLondon]

Honestly, my countrymen, or women in this case, need to get.a.life.

The economy, global warming, war, genetically modified food...now, these are things that bear the effort of thought and highly charged emotion especially as the impact directly affects our children.

[Gerard]

Well, the original is hardly offensive, although it comes over as mildly patronising (very mildly).

The spoof however is brilliant! One of the best pieces of humour I have seen in a long time.

Jesus... grow a sense of humour. It's only offensive if you put it in an offensive context. And its all about context, the ridiculous this about being overly 'PC' is that it's a conscious decision to be offended by something that, for the most part is pretty benign. Of course there are people who are offensive either deliberately or just through good old fashioned ignorance and yes, they should be taken up on it. But really, is this who we want to be now? Stressed out and hypersensitive with no funny bone? Pick your battles guys, god knows there are enough real bastards in the world who get off without a hitch.

[alex parker]

I think the real issue is that many women feel mis-understood and under valued by society. So it is immensly irritating and pratronising when advertisers talk to us like they understand.

[Alison]

Anyone who gets tied up in knots about an ad as innocuous as that really needs to rethink what matters in life.

Things come "into fashion" is a phrase. The definition of fashion includes "The prevailing style or custom". That statement doesn't mean ergo that you are a fashion victim by using something that is in fashion. Many years ago most buggys had four wheels. Now three wheel buggys are in fashion. They are also practical. And using one doesn't indicate that the person who bought it was vacuous and merely following fashion. There might be different fashions in baby gear in the next decade - we could be using floating hover cribs that we drag about on dog leads.

Having a baby is hard work anyway. If one day you end up carry your baby around for most of the day, when he's finally asleep at night you might find you have a sore back. You'll probably take a pill to help relieve the pain and maybe put heat on it. And if the sling hurts when you go to put in on next, you'll probably decide to use the buggy instead.

The ad is not saying live through pain. It's saying carrying babies around can cause pain, and Motrin can provide relief. Don't interpret it as directing you to injure yourself, that's just being an idiot.

And to get insulted that it suggested mums can look tired and haggard is ridiculous. I have two children. I had some pretty rough days. Sleep deprivation does that to you.

The ad was funny

[Leila]

Bending over the tub scrubing the brown streaks out of your hubbies underwear hurts your back too but do we really need an ad for that?

[Ruby]

I liked the ad, and the spoof - both mildy amusing. I find it hard to see what's so outrageously offensive here, but then sensibilities are different across the pond.

And what's so wrong with speaking out against something that offends you? Keep turning the other other cheek and you'll continue to be slapped!

[LM]

Does this ad offend me? No, I thought it was pretty funny actually, and quite true to life, though I recommend massage & hot baths as a better solution to baby-induced back pain than OTC analgesics.

[Carrie]

Oh, Get a life.
Slings hurt my neck, so in a pushchair they went.

The spoof is great.

Is it now fashionable to be offended by everything?

Sad lot.

[Fiona]

I too think it's a great add. It gently pokes fun at the complexities of being a parent (not really about slings at all) and I smile cos I know that I too can get caught up in it all.
The spoof add is very clever too.
Both made me smile today - and that can't be bad.

[Pauline Renton]

Hmm, so carrying a baby in a sling might make you tired, sore and .... irritable? I think that has now been proven.

[Laura]

Great ad. The people who are offended by this need to chill out. Losing your sense of humour is more damaging than back pain!

PS Wore twins in a sling and would have laughed my head off at the time.

[Graham]

To all those people who were offended - GET A LIFE !

[Whimsey]

"Now, the pain of early latching on...that's an unspoken truth of motherhood..."

I agree - it's the definition of selfless mother love! Feeding them through your pain....

[mumoftwo]

I found this ad a bit weird (in that I couldn't relate to it and didn't like slings) but not offensive. I guess it's like someone suggesting that I went through the pain of breastfeeding to get a badge of motherhood. I don't feel like that was my reason, but I can see why it would look that way, given the amount of moaning and ouching and crying I did over it (whilst carrying on).

Now, the pain of early latching on...that's an unspoken truth of motherhood...

[barrystar]

We had a sling, it was great when our baby was small, but when our baby got to more than about 5kgs it was uncomfortable to use it for any length of time. We learnt that lesson the hard way over a weekend when we went away and took the sling instead of a buggy - I had to stand around on a train platform with the sling on for about 1hr 30mins.

I liked the advertisement - it was creative, it struck a chord with my experience, and if it did tweek the tail of a few parents aboslutely shame on them for not seeing the funny side.

[Jo]

I thought it was funnyish but not that great an advert and not worth getting bothered about. Agree with Whimsey and Anon though. If you have serious pain don't just mask it with a pain killer as you could be causing damage to yourself - just buy a pram

[Geraldine McQueen, Derry]

I don't like teh way teh media spells teh word "the". And I'm going to start a campaign against this gross misuse of teh word. It really offends me. Every time I see a newspaper or magazine with teh word in it, I'm going to screw it up so that no-one else can see it. It's an absolute disgrace. No, teh disgrace of our times.

[freelunch]

Motril could make millions marketing a drug for over-sensitivity.

[Whimsey]

Well posted, anon. The whole point is, if carrying babies in slings is painful, then don't do it (or change the way you do it). Whatever you do don't just take a stupid painkiller!

It doesn't matter whether the ad was meant to be humorous, ironic, or whatever, the pharma concerned should never advocate taking a pain pill simply to enable someone to go on doing something that is clearly causing physical damage in some way!