Babies, burgers and bloggers
A few weeks ago, pain reliever Motrin was targeted by outraged, baby-toting mothers of the blogosphere in a backlash against the brand’s latest television spot. The spot in question featured a young woman talking about those baby-sling things (I can’t be bothered to find out the actual name of the device), lamenting good-naturedly about the woes of motherhood and the need for the pharmacological phenomenon known as Motrin.
Well, apparently, wearing your baby in a bag is now a movement, a lifestyle choice, complete with books and blogs and outspoken activists. And here I thought it was a Native American invention used to free up your hands so you could get things done, like skinning a buffalo or microwaving a Hot Pocket. Anyway, more than a few of these mothers felt that the Motrin commercial was demeaning to their chosen way of child rearing…or something, I don’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth. Twitter was immediately abuzz with whispers of boycott. If you are not familiar with Twitter, or tweets, just pretend like you are and move on with life. Nobody needs to be that connected.
I saw the spot and was less than offended, but I’m a middle-aged white man with no kids and even less class. So maybe I don’t have my finger on the pulse of the papoose, but what I do understand is that Motrin’s message missed the mark with a very vocal portion of its intended audience. Motrin has pulled the campaign.
Fast forward a bit to the next ad that has the bloggers raging: Burger King’s Whopper Virgins.
In an attempt to demonstrate the superiority of the Whopper over rival burger Big Mac, Burger King has scoured the farthest reaches of the planet to find people unsullied by mass marketing, predisposition, or even a word in their language for a hamburger to solicit a completely unbiased taste test.
A few have been offended by the name alone. Most, however, seem to be concerned with unleashing the preservative-laden, high-calorie, low-nutrition American fast-food diet on an unsuspecting populace — for our amusement, no less. Well, I can’t say I disagree with that notion, but on the scale of injustices perpetrated by our decadent nation, I’m not sure this rates very high. I mean, they didn’t waterboard anyone until they submitted to this taste test. And I’m pretty sure eating a couple of hamburgers isn’t going to destroy anyone’s native culture. It’s just not very politically correct.
And that’s the thing. Burger King’s intended audience isn’t very politically correct. I would imagine that, for the most part, the people who are offended by this ad probably don’t eat a lot of Burger King to begin with.
The commercials are irreverent, a little crass, even a little offensive. And for my money, I think they have their target audience dialed in just fine.