Comments on: Discuss: Motrin’s Mommy Ad

By: sara

sara — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:07:37 +0000

parenting, whether you wear your baby or not, is painful. period. i put my son in his ergo for our two mile walk every day. why the ergo and not the stroller? well, ’cause i’m also trying to wrangle an 80+ lb dog. wearing him is MUCH easier when i need to walk the dog. and even wearing him for two miles every day, up and down hills, wearing him does not cause pain. good work out, for sure. but not pain. however, bending over to get him from his crib, lugging around in the car seat, picking up and setting down on a play mat on the floor, and carrying him around all day are what leave more sore. the baby wearing is one of the few things that doesn’t hurt. i would target the add to all the things parents have to do that can result in pain…all the bending, lifting, lugging, carrying, and crying and cleaning. not only is it less offensive, you increase your target audience to all parents, and not just a subset of moms.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:07:03 +0000

I was going to start advertising babywearing as the latest fad diet because seriously, hauling Kale’s butt around in his Beco carrier has made me lose more weight than three years at a gym ever did. I think this ad has caused so many problems because they didn’t cater to the lowest common denominator – they assumed people would get the joke and the sarcasm.You know ass-you-me and all that jazz.

By: Pippin

Pippin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:54:40 +0000

I was unable to carry my baby in any type of sling or carrier– I had a badly broken wrist when I had her, and a cast over my elbow, down over my thumb (no use of thumb, as it was stuck out at an angle), and I managed fine without a sling.

Oh, I did get the “better than thou” looks from the sling users. I got the “It’s really so much better for bonding” snarks, but guess what, I PHYSICALLY couldn’t have a sling. My baby is fine, thank you.

I take more offensive by the parents who looked down their noses at me, and were downright rude than some goofy TV ad.

By: anjii

anjii — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:47:26 +0000

Pain with carrying can absolutely be avoided, if you use the right carrier for the right situation. I have a lot of carriers, but at our current stage (15lb, 14 month old) I mostly use a pouch for quick trips, or places where he’ll be in/out, up/down frequently, and I use a mei-tei for longer periods, or when I expect him to sleep. I can wear him in an MT (or wrap) for HOURS with no pain. (Although, I personally preferred the wrap when for the first 6 months or so). At a wedding last weekend, I used a pouch (for in/out, up/down), but then he got sleepy. Silly me, instead of going to the car and switching to my MT, I just put him in a cradle hold in the pouch and when he woke up 2 hours later, I would have GLADLY taken some Midol, lol. (And by the way, JMo, Ibuprofen IS safe to take while nursing).

But as for this ad, it does tick me off, for making babywearing sound almost like a deragatory thing… I prefer Bill’s wording, but even that might turn people off of babywearing a bit, as it still sounds like all babywearing hurts…

By: Cordately

Cordately — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:37:01 +0000

Feet! Babywearing is great for backs, necks, arms because it spreads that weight out over strong parts of the body. It also cuts down on the lunging that really kills my back. Ultimately, the weight of the child, no matter how well spread across the upper body, must be suppported by the feet, ankles and knees.

That is where I would target the ad if I was Motrin. I would also broaden it out to target all mothers of small children who are busy chasing and picking up and loading their children into safety seats regardless of whether or not they choose to wear and nurse their babies.

By: Magda

Magda — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:43:33 +0000

I just thought the ad was silly.

As someone who has metal rods in her back from scoliosis, I find that I exercise my core muscles properly when I wear my baby, so I have less of a need for pain-killers. When I get a headache trying to figure out why my son is crying … then I’m tempted to go for the pain meds … but they don’t address what happens to my breast-fed child when I take their medication, so I’d rather do without. (Also, I have a darned good baby, so once I figure out what he needs, he stops crying … so far.)

The ad reminds me of irony of watching the ads for whatever shampoo asking whether motherhood was “ruining your hair” … when I was getting all the postpartum hormones so that my hair had never looked as nice!

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:22:34 +0000

I remember when I went for a walk with my 1 month old in the front carrier, I was stopped by a couple (to admire her of course!), and the lady made a comment or question along the lines of “isn’t it heavy to have the baby in the carrier like that?”
I said “It’s a lot less weight than i was carrying in front a month ago!”
(when i was still pregnant) 8 lbs of baby vs 25 lbs pregnant belly. hahaha!!!!

By: Tracy

Tracy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:24:55 +0000

I also agree with Mark. And something tells me that Motrin got exactly what they wanted out of this ad… a lot of free publicity.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:25:54 +0000

I agree with Mark. Well said, you lurking weenie.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:05:49 +0000

Can I speak up on behalf of the lurking weenies? Tempest in a teapot. This whole uproar screams of modern parenting taking itself just a bit too seriously sometimes.