Yes, but...will they really? Or will they just think I ran out of undereye concealer?
Heard about the Motrin ad debacle?
(It's old news by now but I only post once a day and there are more pressing matters to blog about...usually food-related. Owl cupcakes, Theo eating yogurt with a spoon, cookie mishaps.)
I'm curious (since a lot of my readers are moms) if you are offended by this ad:
My opinion: I wasn't offended, but then again I don't exactly hold babywearing near and dear to my heart. I do hold breastfeeding near and dear to my heart (pun intended), but even if an ad like this ran about breastfeeding I don't think I'd be offended, because I don't consider myself, or anyone who takes babywearing, breastfeeding, etc. seriously, to be the target of a "humorous" ad like this. I don't wear a sling because "it totally makes me look like an official mom"--I wear it because it makes my life easier and Ida happier. (Don't get me wrong, one of my top criteria for a baby carrier is cuteness, just after comfort and price.)
For more info on why Motrin pulled this ad super fast, read this article or watch this montage of angry Twitterers.
So, maybe since I don't wear Ida for the "bonding experience," that's why the ad didn't upset me.
Or maybe it's because I kinda think slings hurt, too, and personally can't wait until she can sit up in a front/back pack.
P.S., I can't boycott Motrin because, well, since when have I ever bought name-brand pharmaceuticals?
9 comments:
People will do anything to get attention for a cause. Things like this make me realize my love/hate relationship for the internet.
Totally not offended!
I can't wait for Thursday!!!
My experience was that anyway you carry a baby can start hurting after awhile.
That's why we teach them to walk!!
Maybe some moms are insecure and think they are somehow failures if babycarrying in any form seems to hurt.
The sling I used with Noah worked pretty well - it was the only way to get dinner made!!
But making dinner without a baby in a sling on your body is way easier!
But easier than carrying a baby in your arms and trying to make dinner.
I'm glad I'm past that.
I've never been a Motrin fan anyway - I always do generic!!
this is bruce, not bonny.
i just asked bonny what she thought, and she thought the add was pretty funny.
i actually found it a bit offensive and i usually consider myself relatively thick skinned, especially when the offending bit doesn't point directly to me.
since i am currently fresh out of causes maybe i will boycott motrin.
I wasn't offended. I think they could have focused on a number of other causes of back ache that mothers face. Like, carrying you baby to the car while also holding a toddlers hand, trying to keep the baby covered up with the blanket, a diaper bag over one shoulder, while also carrying a shopping bag or a bag of groceries, while at the same time trying to find your keys in the diaper bag with out having the diaper bag fall onto the toddlers head. Or they could have shown a mother running around her house picking stuff up off the floor, then a time lapse showing her picking up the same room a half hour later, then again and again. cleaning up spilled juice on the floor, carrying laundry up and down the stairs.Or just showing a mother trying to leave the house, putting the kids in the car, the stroller, then running back inside and up and down the stairs at least five more times to get the diaper bag, the blankie, the sippy cup, the baby doll- what have you. Basically, any part of a mothers day. Mother's with small children have a physically demanding job.
I don't use Motrin anyway.
Thanks for your comments! Especially Bruce, always good to get a guy's POV. And Annie, I think you have a future in advertising. Motrin should have consulted you. :)
As I said, I wasn't offended, but I think it's partly because I am not super-serious about babywearing, and partly because I know I don't have that attitude about it--"they say" it's good for you and "it totally makes me look like an official mom"--and for some reason it doesn't bother me if Motrin ad execs think that about me.
I think it's a condescending ad and not very thoughtful...but I was pretty amazed at the outrage.
Also, the first thing I thought of was that breastfeeding moms shouldn't be taking ibuprofen if they can help it. But that's getting causes mixed up.
BTW, did anyone watch the Boob Job mock ad...I thought that was pretty funny. Although people with boob jobs might not. Or maybe they would.
ella was a bit shocked by that last one - i, myself, thought it was hilarious.
maybe it's because 50% of the moms i know have had a boob job?
but it reminds me of one halloween where a woman came to school dressed up as pamela anderson. this was a little more awkward because at the time PA had kids that went to our school. I thought the costume was FANTASTIC! Pam, however got all snooty about it and confronted her about it. i wanted to say - Pam, baby, you are trying your HARDEST to become a star - if you are so desperate to become culturally relevant, you have to take the good (free stuff, money, jobs) with the bad (fame, stalkers, papparrazzi, people making fun of you at halloween)
so i think that pertains to both ads - because whatever we are deciding to be - we have to be aware that we may become a parody of that.
While I am not upset by this ad (bc I think the ad is ridiculous, not bc I think it is clever or totally innocuous), I can see why people were offended. Perhaps the extent of their rage is out of proportion, but I think their taking offense is justified.
What I don't understand is why some ad exec at motrin had such a chip on her (yes, I think it was a female exec) shoulder about baby-wearing.
Really, I don't think you realize until the very end when the motrin logo pops up that this is an ad for motrin. It seems to be an ad against slings, and I thought they were about to propose some alternative. I really think that someone in the advertising department was venting her own personal annoyances.
I am not upset by this ad, but I do see it as one more frontier in the working mom v. stay-at-home mom battle that women seem unable to resist waging.
Slings are a practical way to manage babies while trying to also manage the rest of your duties. That mothers also like the slings to be cute is, in my view, completely fine. Why does anyone care what another mom chooses to do?
I think if another woman's choice to "go hands-free," as the ad seems to ridicule, makes you feel annoyed, you need to examine the real source of your hostility.
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