The Motrin Mom Wave: It’s Not a Tsunami
The Motrin Moms are everywhere.
It’s not what I’d intended, nor what I’d hoped for, but I do think it’s a reasonable outcome. It’s not for the reasons you might imagine.
This is a wave and not a tsunami. The Ad was the wind and the mommies gathered steam. As we came crashing onto the shore, there was foam and whitewash (the site went dead for several hours) and then it all receded.
An apology was posted online, and it was an authentic one too. The message has been criticized as “not good enough” I suspect it’s Ms. Widmer’s voice, and it was reasonably swift, but will still be picked apart.
Every beach kid knows that waves come in sets. Unfortunately, yesterday’s wave had me (and other Motrin Moms) being called hideous names by all the usual suspects. Fortunately none of those are voices I’m courting, they didn’t matter and I don’t care.
Today’s wave is the third and largest of the set. I assure you it won’t knock me off of my feet. I grew up on the beach and I know the tide, I’m standing sideways, like my mother taught me to. This wave will pass me by and I’d urge everyone to hold their breath and get splashed. Trying to swim against the largest waves in the ocean will only drown you.
Today is the day when the other women come out and call me silly. Ladies, I will not fight with you. The hate mail has turned dismissive. I’m “ridiculous” because this isn’t an issue worth an argument.
The more I speak, the less you listen. So I’m whispering now. I’m not doing the Mommy Wars. I won’t have it and I won’t feed the machine. Because the real Tsunami, the only thing that could knock me off my feet is if I engage in the most ridiculous of all arguments. And that’s where this is headed.
Did Motrin really need to take the ad down?