I can’t remember if I said this here or elsewhere, but the one thing that struck me is how much the advertising fit in with the Big Pharma stereotypes of pharmaceutical companies trying to medicate any and every discomfort of life.

Particularly the one that stamped “25 lb toddler” on two Motrin tablets.

I think the internet has given consumers a powerful voice- not only an instant voice, but one that can be read by thousands of people at any given time.

It could be a good thing, though- between RSS and Twitter, companies can take the pulse of consumers fairly quickly… but I wonder how accurately, because, as you pointed out, mothers who network on the internet crowd’ are “socially engaged, techically savvy, ideologically motivated mothers who have made a place for themselves on the internet discussing their parenting styles”

I wonder if that phrase would fit on a T-shirt…:p

Meaning that marketing my become increasingly focused on us, even though we are not yet a majority.

I think there may well have been a similar reaction without the internet, but it would have taken weeks or months to build. The Cheetos campaign never received much attention but also seemed to eventually flop. That was actually the worst ad campaign I remember in a long time, and the fact that they were encouraging petty vandalism I found particularly disturbing.

It wasn’t the number one topic on Twitter, and it wasn’t discussed on every blog because everyone sort of privately reacted by not participating in their campaign and I’m sure we weren’t the only ones who thought twice about purchasing Frito Lay products until it was done.

1. Would that many people have noticed the ad without the reaction itself becoming something to notice?
2. Would people have reacted so strongly to the ad if they had not seen other people reacting strongly? As in.. hey, yeah, that *is* demeaning! In the old days of old media, this would have had to happen over time as people read articles, passed around opinions via phone or in-person meetings.
3. How will this affect the way advertising companies do focus group testing? If the mainstream people are less effective than this tech-savvy ideologically-driven minority, will the mall questions be obsolete?

I’ve been trying to figure out what it means to be a demented lower-life form since.

Other than one bad pun…I’m a luna-tick, I haven’t figured it out. Fits with the whole “bloggers are parasites” from a year or two ago.

The baby thing didn’t bother me so much with the Motrin ad. I did think that the whole campaign seemed to play right into one of the biggest stereotypes of pharmaceutical companies, namely drug everything and you’ll be fine.

And ABC won’t apologize because they don’t have to. Controversy draws viewers and that is essentially their product.

Motrin would have been stupid to not respond.

How DARE someone choose to ever give a bottle of formula, use the infant car seat or stroller rather than a sling, let the baby cry it out in his/her own crib, use disposable diapers, circumcise their son, buy jarred Gerber foods rather than making one’s own from organic produce, follow the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule, etc., etc. Don’t they know how EVIL those things are and how doing so makes them a FAILURE as a parent?????

And people accuse conservative Christians of being intolerant…

I think more telling was the reaction of the AUDIENCE. They thought it was funny. I mean, what if someone got up and said they thought all Orthodox Jews were “demented?” Would that be funny, too? They could do a little skit about how these people are afraid of non-Kosher foods and really yuk it up.

Sigh.

BTW – After watching The View clip you provided with my Sal (14 yr. old) I asked him if he was afraid of other kids. He said that he wasn’t but that Joy Behar kind of freaked him out.

Out of the mouths…