I must admit that I’ve considered the possibility that Motrin knew what they were doing just for attention, except that I don’t think they handled the aftermath well.

I totally agree with you about how they could have owned the argument and turned it around in their favor.

Sure, that was damaging. So then what Motrin should have done – maybe they did, but I don’t have time to follow – is set up a website called, Motrinscrewedup.com, invite all the critics to come and continue the debate at the site.

Own the arguement.

Then, turn it around. Fly the mommy bloggers in to the Motrin HQ to discuss with the main complainers.

Learn exactly what the problem is and throw enough engagement at it for opinion to swing.

Now, the point is not really to solve the initial problem, but to occupy the next few news cycles and move the discussion on to where they are more comfortable.

If the company grasped how W2.0 worked they could have done this and a whole lot more, but then they probably wouldn’t have got into trouble in the first place.

The thing that interests me is not that it happened, but why they didn’t exploit the situation and enhance it to their own benefit.

But hey, safe corporate mentality. Whaddyagonnado?

8. Some people just have too much time
While some folk don’t have time to watch tv ads there are those that will obsess over them. This can be applied to anything, be careful of what you do and each segment of it. Even if the overall punchline is a good one sometimes the intro just won’t work. By the time the punchline gets there they have already lost them.

As individuals, we all have opinions and perspectives that we know other people don’t agree with. I am comfortable with expressing my perspectives to anyone I interact with on a personal level, but I try to filter the things that might not be able to control. And I’m the first to admit that I haven’t been perfect in my efforts.

The bottom line is, you can never control how other people will react to things. Big brands should be ultra-sensitive to this when they release content . . . in this case, Motrin wasn’t.