Video ad a headache for Motrin

TRENTON, N.J. — Can a tongue-in-cheek ad for a popular pain reliever backfire and turn into a huge headache for one of the most respected health product marketers?

You bet -- if the ad appears to be making fun of new mothers and their babies.

That’s what happened over the weekend with an edgy Johnson & Johnson video ad for Motrin that riffed on the trend of new mothers “wearing their babies” in slings and wraps, saying the devices cause back and neck pain. The ad, online at www.motrin.com, implied that Motrin, made by J&J;’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit, would help mothers deal with what it called “a good kind of pain.”

“Supposedly it’s a real bonding experience,” the announcer says over catchy graphics. “It totally makes me look like an official mom.”

Dozens, if not hundreds, of “mom bloggers” blasted the ad on the social networking site Twitter, with quite a few suggesting a Motrin boycott.

J&J;, upon learning of the criticism, took the site down. On Monday it went back up, with the ad replaced by an apology from McNeil Consumer Healthcare marketing head Kathy Widmer.

Among the comments:

“Picking on new mothers is vile, it’s as vulnerable as we will ever be and they should know better.”

“Wow Motrin, you REALLY messed up with that ad. No more Motrin for my family. MobileMommy.”