I am sure you all have heard of the mess Johnson & Johnson got themselves into over the weekend. I recently did a search online and the reaction is pretty amusing. While I am not necessarily concerned with the content (I can't relate - I'm not a mom), the fact that very little, if any, research was done to see if this message would offend mothers is frightening.
If I learned anything at the Brandcenter, it was to make sure that the advertising/marketing message you publish is both on brand and speaks to your audience, not at them. Here is the advertisement that has every mother up in arms:
So I asked my mom to watch the ad and tell me what she thought. After watching, she responded, "cute". It was interesting to see that she wasn't offended by the content, but thought it was a cute way to advertise the medicine. In a simple search online, it is very easy to find mothers who ARE offended by this, thus getting to my point. Here are a couple of links and a video to some of the mothers and their responses to the ad:
Instinct Parenting Blog
Mashable
Now a P.R. mess, Johnson & Johnson could have easily avoided this by simply hosting a few focus groups or including mothers in their brainstorming session concerning this campaign. In fact, after re-watching the ad, it seems like the Motrin brand group wanted to attack the baby-carriers, not the mothers or babies themselves. If that is the case, a different direction could have brought mom's together in their fight against pain suffered by these products...
With that said, I commend Johnson & Johnson for their quick response to the mess they caused. The first thing they did was shut down the Mortin site. While they didn't have to go that far, it's obvious that they knew they made a mistake and are trying to right it as soon as possible [They should get the site back up ASAP]. Second, the VP of Marketing replied to all of the angry mothers who took the time to write to Motrin with this email:
"I am the Vice President of Marketing for McNeil Consumer Healthcare. I have responsibility for the Motrin Brand, and am responding to concerns about recent advertising on our website. I am, myself, a mom of 3 daughters.
We certainly did not mean to offend moms through our advertising. Instead, we had intended to demonstrate genuine sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their babies. We believe deeply that moms know best and we sincerely apologize for disappointing you. Please know that we take your feedback seriously and will take swift action with regard to this ad. We are in process of removing it from our website. It will take longer, unfortunately, for it to be removed from magazine print as it is currently on newstands and in distribution.
-Kathy"
This email should go a long way in repairing the relationship damage it has caused and hopefully taught Johnson & Johnson - as well as all marketers - that research pays. What do you all think?
