by Sarah Morgan on November 17, 2008
I had sworn I wouldn’t post about this, but after all the conversations I’ve had, all I need to do is post what I keep saying. So that’s what I’ma do.
Short explanation: Motrin launched an ad this weekend talking about how moms who wear their kids in slings must get backaches. And they asked mommybloggers to check it out. The tone was sarcastic and patronizing and treated the practice of babywearing as a joke. (That’s what the complaints say, and I agree 100%.) Cue a deluge of mommyblogger posts and tweets. Motrin’s since pulled the ad and apologized.
Long explanation: Check search.twitter.com or blogsearch.google.com for “motrin” and you’ll see. The term “ad nauseam” comes to mind.
My thoughts:
I commented on Matt Herper’s Science Business post today, saying:
by Sarah Morgan on November 4, 2008
Hardly any real results are in as I write this, but I just heard the pundits talking about how they could all agree, regardless of their politics, and regardless of what happens, that Obama has run one of the best presidential campaigns in recent memory.
And then one in particular had this to say, which made my ears perk up:
“Obama did something McCain didn’t do; he did something no one else has done. He’s married the internet to community organizing.”
Hmm. Internet + community? Doesn’t that sound familiar?
A few months ago I told my boss that social media would make all the difference in this election, and he gave me an extremely patronizing look and a condescending half-laugh and said, “Well, I think that’s a bit of a stretch.”
Oh yeah?
I’ll say it again, and I still don’t think it’s a stretch. If Barack Obama wins the race for president, he will have won because of social media.
Updated to add: CNN agrees. (Thanks Ryan for the link!)
by Sarah Morgan on October 28, 2008
Note: I’m leaving the graphics in, even though they keep screwing up the formatting, because I think a person’s Twitter photo is a big part of their “personality”.
The subject line of Tuesday afternoon’s HARO email was called “10 Years Ago Today”. And while I think Peter was referring to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that enacted digital rights management, it made me think.
On October 28, 1998, I was:
- suffering through junior-year public speaking and Core IV (FDU alums feel my pain)
- balancing full-time school with a part-time PR job at Ortho-McNeil (for an amazing group of people)
- babysitting for the pharmacist I’d worked for as a tech (who’s one of my dearest friends, and whose girls are now in or near college themselves)
- dating a guy who smoked, managed a car wash, and adored Pink Floyd (in fairness, that was a long time ago, and he’s very nice)
Point is, I didn’t really know much about anything. Exactly one year later, I was wandering around Rome. And I don’t know if I know a much more about anything, ten years later, but I’ve sure made sure I’ve seen more.
Now check out what Twitter was doing ten years ago today.
deafmom:
@sarahmorgan 10 years ago I was wiping butts, juggling 2 toddlers and a baby & counting the minutes ’til hubby arrived home so I cld escape.
bobf1:
@sarahmorgan 10 years ago today…I was wondering if people dressed up for Halloween at my first job out of college.
joshshabtai:
@sarahmorgan: putting finishing touches on a ‘road warrior’ halloween costume while trying to get over the dissolution of a relationship.gamemom:
@sarahmorgan 10 yrs ago was creating early online press events. Journos met online to play games and talk via phone. Fed Exed them food.
YML: @sarahmorgan Making haloween cosumes for a (then) one and two yr. old. about 3 hours ago
ingarundquist:
@sarahmorgan I was a junior at West High School having just moved from Germany to the US and taking drivers ed classes! Yikes
rferrier:
@sarahmorgan “10 years ago…” i was working 1st job at literary agency and living at home b/c i didn’t make enough $$ to have my own place 
gturpin:
@sarahmorgan 10 years ago today… I was also a new father and my wife and I were taking my son to meet his grandparents for the first time.
AnnetteFix:
@sarahmorgan I’ll play. 10 years ago today, I was working as a dancer, supporting a deadbeat financial consultant from Smith Barney. Next? gturpin: @sarahmorgan 10 years ago today… I was the product manager for a multimedia design tool. http://tinyurl.com/69fh68
ltbeyer:
@sarahmorgan @skydiver re:HARO “10 years ago today…” I was a HS freshman going to my first Homecoming dance. (hope this thread spreads!)Here’s where you tell me what you were doing!
Updated: Will wrote a whole post on it too!
noahsaidwhat
DJDiG
snyderwriter
The ad is completely condescending, but the furor over this gives me pause two ways.
One, this isn’t the first time J&J has gotten the mommybloggers mad by seemingly trusting their agencies to the exclusion of testing their concepts. Remember the ill-conceived Camp Baby mommyblogger minicon, which excluded babies? So I think J&J needs to soft-sound a little more, as amazing as it is to need to say that about such a conservative company, and as great as it is that they’re embracing social media to the extent that they are.
Two, though, the mommyblogger community is well-known because they’re so easy to define, and it’s great that that recognition has helped give this community a voice, but they’re in danger of appearing overly emotional to the point of hysteria. Yes, this was monumentally stupid creative. But if you saw blogs and Twitter this weekend, you’d think Motrin was MADE out of babies. It’s a dumb ad. Call them out on it. End of story. The community is glorying in their power, and they deserve that power, but if they revel in it they won’t be taken seriously.
Traditional media has made the mommyblogger community, because it’s a supremely easy concept to communicate. Moms who write about being moms? Even if you don’t know how to turn on a computer, you get that. So the community is famous.
And the vast majority are thoughtful, articulate, intelligent individuals and the community reflects that. But when a few people buy into a mob mentality, they get drunk on their own power. And in this case, it’s worse because they’re standing on the shoulders of giants. I’m talking about the individuals who are fairly new to the evolutions of online community. They haven’t been immersed in technology and all of a sudden they have access to easy-to-use, powerful tools.
It’s like handing someone a megaphone. You have to consider the implications of what you’re saying. People are discussing business concepts without displaying any strategic thinking. I mean, come on. Every company should hire a “chief mom officer”? Really? What are you even talking about? You’re being misogynist yourself, if you think about it, because that implies that you need to create that title to get a mom into C-suite conversations. There are executives who are moms, thanks; very good ones who are very good at their jobs.
One of those thoughtful, articulate people had this to say about the over-reacting element in the community, which I think sums up the problem perfectly:
“They think that just because they’re moms, they wield power over everything and everyone and must be bowed down to. They don’t have the business savvy (most times) to think through things. They act on instinct and gut alone - “mama bear” is a favorite buzz phrase - and it’s just too much sometimes. There are things to get your panties in a twist about… but this isn’t giving me a wedgie.”
I’m not a mom. I can’t pretend to understand a mom’s perspective. But I understand how to think about things from a strategic business perspective. And the fact that when I asked if I could quote her, she wanted to remain anonymous - and I completely understood why - says to me that this has devolved from an interesting adult discussion to a high-school clique brawl.
The mommyblogger community should absolutely be taken seriously, but its members need to comport themselves accordingly to deserve that. And personally, right now I’m finding it difficult.