The twitosph… twite… twee… bah— the twits have been in an uproar over a new ad from Johnson and Johnson’s ‘McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit‘ (thanks Forbes). In what is perhaps the funniest example of not understanding your market since New Coke, JnJ has released a web based advertising campaign targeted at tech savvy moms that proceeds to belittle them from all angles.

At first glance —and I’m sure to anyone reading the copy— the ad seems harmless: a young mother states that its fashionable to carry your baby strapped to your chest, complains that it hurts your back, and suggests Motrin (Ibuprofen) as a solution. What’s the problem there?

Well, as everyone and their grandmothers blog has pointed out: once you put a couple of jabs about parents being in it for the image together with a sarcastic and condescending tone it starts to seem less like a call to buy pain relief and more like a tie in to this George Carlin sketch:

 

But that’s the least of it. If this had been a TV ad people might have frowned and forgotten about it, or perhaps even chuckled, but instead they placed it right into an opinionated group in a community based around conversation. There is no passive viewership here, everyone who clicks on this is going to be an active viewer. Meaning that if you insult them they’re not just going to notice, they’re going to talk about it.

So you’ve insulted people in an active medium, cool, what else can you do wrong? Well, people hate the intrusion of obvious marketing efforts in to their communities, meaning that whoever is introducing this better do so with extreme tact. Instead JnJ introduced it with MotrinMoms wonderful tweeting:

Motrinmoms tweeted:
“@PinkOliveFamily I’m just a mom who loves her Motrin! ;)””Hey, I didn’t realize that Motrin is also a fun toy for kids! (Please, only with parental supervision) ;)”

“Hey nice pic, @kellyatcare, I see you use the freehand technique as well. 😉 Make sure to pack some Motrin in the purse!”

“Sorry you don’t like our commercial, @pitchengine, but let’s get “viral”!!! LOL! Shoot your own on YouTube and let us see it. :)”

This person is a complete twit—in the non-endearing, pre-twitter sense of the word. She says she isn’t a marketer, starts throwing about horrible marketing pitches, and then packs it all together with JeffK quality sentences. You know, just to add to the already condescending tone of the campaign.

So JnJ ended up with a piece of content stewing amidst a community of opinionated people being seasoned with unintentionally condescending commentary by some “mom who loves her Motrin! ;)”. How could they not expect that it would get devoured by angry by insulted mothers?

I could try to end this with some kind of lesson about what not to do, but instead I’m just going to say don’t do what you see here:

 

 


Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Cardinal Path hosted a live session to connect with you and answer all your questions on Google Analytics.
Get all the expertise and none of the consultancy fees in this not-to-be-missed, rapid-fire virtual event.

Thank you for submitting the form.

Thank you for submitting the form.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you.

Click here to download access the tool.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you.

Message Sent

Thank you.

Message Sent

Thank you

Message Sent

Thank you

Message Sent

Thank you.

Message Sent

Thank you

Message Sent

Thank you.

Message Sent

Success!
Your message was received.

Thank you.

Thank you for registering.

Cardinal Path is continuing with its series of free training. Next we are conducting training on Google Data Studio. Check it out here.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Thank you for your submission.

Your request has been submitted and a rep will reach out to you shortly.

Message Sent

Thank you for your interest.

Thank you for registering.

You should receive a confirmation email from GoToWebinar with your unique webinar login information. If you do not receive this email or have trouble logging in to the event, please email asmaa.mourad@cardinalpath.com.

Thank you for subscribing!

You're now looped into the world's largest GMP resource hub!

Thank you for your submission.

Thank you for your submission.

Thank you for your submission.

Thank you for your submission.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for your submission.

Thank you for your submission.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Thank you for registering.​

Paid media spend by Government websites increased a whopping 139% YoY in 2020.

2020 Online Behavior Live Dashboard

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

2020 Online Behavior Live Dashboard

Thank you for your submission.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Thank you for registering.

Message Sent

Success! Thank you
for reaching out.