Motrin's Pain: Viral Video Disaster

The economy is in a slump. Companies are worried how they’re going to meet next quarter’s profits. So they hire an ad agency to come up with a viral video campaign that’s going to be so fresh and inspiring that it will help boost sales. That’s what McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the largest consumer company within Johnson & Johnson who is responsible for Motrin’s brand were banking on when they released their new video campaign and Motrin Moma-Alogue.

The results - a slick online video narrated by a snarky young woman saying babywearing on a sling, the shwing, the pouch, whatever, is fashionable and “supposedly it’s a real bonding experience” but moms that wear their babies “cry more.” But don’t worry mommies of the world “Motrin feels your pain.” They are here to help.

The viral video worked in the sense that it went viral but not in the way the marketers of Motrin were hoping for. Just hours after the campaign launched moms began blogging, tweeting and posting Facebook updates about how offensive the new Motrin campaign is to mothers. Women were so angered by the video that it became one of the most popular subjects tweeted about this weekend on Twitter. Talk about a PR disaster. Over 100 blogs featured headlines such as “Motrin Makes Moms Mad” to “Motrin Giving Moms a Headache”.  Read more.