Johnson & Johnson Get’s Whipped by the Long Tail of Corporate Communications

November 17, 2008 | Posted by: Jayson Schkloven

Christy Maggin, the head of Merritt Group's Healthcare practice, sent me an interesting blog post from the Pharmalot Blog this morning.  Apparently, Johnson & Johnson embarked on an online and print ad campaign designed to empathize with new mothers who experience pain when using slings to "wear" their babies. 

Take a look for yourself. Here is a YouTube link to the ad .  The original ad was pulled off the Motrin web site after dozens of complaints began appearing on blogs, Twitter and YouTube.

The last time I checked, the YouTube video had more than 6500 views.  Unfortunately, rather than fostering endearment for the Motrin  brand among this small sub-segment of J&J's customers, it sparked a huge negative backlash from mommy bloggers, Tweeters and YouTube users.  The angry moms found the ads to be off-base and offensive to the demographic they were intended to reach.

This is an interesting example of what Merritt commonly refers to as social media's long tail impact on corporate communications.  While baby-wearing moms may only make up a very small sub-segment of J&J's customer base, the negative publicity is having a much broader impact on corporate communications and potentially sales.  The angry mothers used common social media platforms (blogs, Twitter and YouTube) to organize online around a common issue and communicate their frustrations directly to J&J's marketing heads.  Their messages of discontent bubbled up through the social web and are now extending into the mainstream media.  Check out this story I found on Forbes.com which also contains a link back to the video of the ad on YouTube. 

Thus far, the only response from J&J is this crisis communications statement from Kathy Widmerm VP of Marketing - Pain, Pediatrics, GI, Specialty:

 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 news stands and in distribution.

-Kathy

It will be interesting to track this story in the coming days to see how much momentum it gains and what else J&J does to respond. Oh, by the way, did you catch the part in her appology about the print ad that may have already gone to press in magazines? Ouch!