This is all so silly to me. Why are people so easily offended? (BTW, I wore all four of my babies to some extent and with the fourth I ended up on muscle relaxers and going to physical therapy for a muscle spasm…it’s a reality, carrying children around takes a toll on our bodies). It seems to me that there are a lot worse ads out there than this one. Just my two cents.

oh man, take a deep breath….if this is the biggest concern for those outraged by the campaign they should be thankful

Maybe it’s just me, but I have bigger fish to fry than getting upset over this ad. I, as Danielle said, understand the importance of close contact with our babies. I have proudly worn mine. And then proudly reached for ibuprofen when my back and shoulders ached at the weight of my large babies. My chiropractor is now a rich woman between sciatica during my pregnancies, upper back pain in the first week after birth when my milk starts coming in and the back, neck, and shoulder pain from both carrying and wearing my babies.
Do I think this ad will sell more Motrin? Probably not more than normal. Pain is better than doing that.
Do I think this might make moms decide not to wear their babies? Maybe a few who were already on the fence about it.
Do I feel as if this ad is preying on moms and their pain as mothers?
Of course, it’s an ad! That’s what it’s supposed to do.
So, to repeat my premise, I’m picking my battles and choosing not to get worked up over an ad that won’t be circulating in a few months.

I don’t really see the big deal…it’s an ad for a Pain Medication, geared towards Mom’s. That’s it. Why are people reading in to it? They’re not advertising NOT to carry your baby, but it does wear on your body. When I have my baby in her front carrier for awhile, I do get tension headaches from my shoulders.
Seriously, this ad doesn’t offend me.

It’s mostly silly and not worth getting worked up about.

But to the extent it has a message it’s that it’s worth making a sacrifice for your kids. “I’ll put up with the pain. It’s a good kind of pain. It’s for my kid!”

That is the most cheerful, positive take on maternal sacrifice —and even baby-wearing—I’ve seen in an ad possibly ever.

The “motherhood is a drag that interferes with personal fulfillment” tone is overruled in favor of a cheerful spirit of service.

I think we need to learn who our friends are!

Oh phew, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought the Outrage is a little ridiculous.  Even if the commercial did promote “misinformation” (which I don’t think it does.  I gave up on slings and carriers, because they hurt my back and neck) . . . babywearing isn’t a sacrament or something.  Who cares?

I agree with everyone else here….do we really expect advertisers to portray anything accurately?  They are trying to make money, that is the bottom line.  I’ve worn babies, had back pain, and taken motrin.  I guess there are just more offensive things out there?

Former baby-wearing and ibuprofen-taking mama says: no outrage here.  Kerry’s comment sums it up for me.

I think all the outrage is a little extreme.

However, as someone who before-kids didn’t know anything about babywearing except “slings are for hippies,” I can understand the frustration that people who spend time trying to promote the practice might feel over this ad.

I don’t know how my husband and I would have gotten through my (fussy) daughter’s first months without wearing her; often it was the only thing that calmed her.  Our back pain certainly would have been much WORSE if we hadn’t had our slings and carriers.  (We did invest in a couple which were expensive but very comfortable and never caused me to need Motrin.)  Babywearing might have looked inconvenient or painful to me before I had a baby, but once I did it turned out to be a real lifesaver.

And that is my one reservation about this ad - that someone who knows nothing about babywearing will walk away from the ad with the impression that babywearing is inconvenient and uncomfortable and be deterred, when she has children of her own, from trying something that might actually make her life much MORE convenient and comfortable.

This is not to say that Motrin doesn’t have a right to make an ad like this if they think it will help them sell their product - they certainly do!  And I don’t think that, as a for-profit company, they have a social responsibility to promote babywearing or anything like that, as the babywearing site suggests.  On the other hand, consumers who don’t like the ad certainly have the right to tell Motrin what they think, and they should!  That’s the beauty of a free market!

I guess I’m in the minority here.  I haven’t read any of the material from the links, so I imagine some complainers might be taking it too far, or getting all dogmatic about baby care.  But I don’t like the tone of the ad at all.  It does imply that babywearing is somehow ridiculous and going overboard in your misplaced zeal to “look more like an official Mom,” or make sacrifices for your child.  If this ad were directed at the large famiy, stay at home mom crowd, then maybe you could take the line about a “good kind of pain” as a good-natured, tongue-in-cheek rib, poking fun at the lengths Moms go to for their kids, and the inherent sacrifices of motherhood.  But the line about “looking more like an offical Mom” kind of tells you they’re not talking to us.  The angst with us usually has to do with looking less like an official mom, and resignation that there just isn’t any way to avoid it!

My criticism has nothing to do with any controversies regarding baby carrying.  I try to carry my babies as much as they seem to need, but could never really do the babywearing thing until I discovered the mei-tai (miraculous for petite moms).  Maybe I’m just being oversensitive given the recent hostility shown in the media, and amongst the cultural elites, towards our ilk, i.e., those who put too much emphasis on family and motherhood.  But the ad, to me, smacked of the same sort of condescension that many of us encounter on a regular basis from the mainstream, careerist folks.  For awhile, it seemed that there was a growing acceptance of more traditional lifestyles and notions of the family, but after the Palin nomination a lot of ugliness came out of the woodwork, and is still reverberating bigtime throughout the culture.  The intense, primal hatred that was shown toward her (and by extension, towards us) just doesn’t disappear after the election is over.  How many people thought it was ridiculous, show-off behavior for Gov. Palin to wear or carry her baby to public and official events?  Sorry, I can’t help but see an undercurrent here.

Well ... outrage wouldn’t be my response, but I can see why many baby wearers would be upset about the ad.  (I didn’t follow the links to read up on the controversy, so this is my response to the ad alone).  To start with, I thought the way they said, “supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience” was a bit too snarky in tone.  If the person had said that while she found it to be a real bonding experience, sometimes she experienced pain, then I would not have even noticed.  But saying it like that seemed unnecessarily ummm well I’m not sure the word ... flippant?  Like they were questioning whether it could be true?

I also wasn’t impressed that they imply pain is a normal result of baby wearing ... as a mom who injured herself badly (shoulder) wearing her babies, I now know that first of all pain can often be corrected by proper weight bearing posture and secondly by making sure the baby carrier is being properly used. 

And I also know that the appropriate response to ongoing pain is to either fix the problem or STOP using that style of baby carrier.  Taking a pain medication for occasional pain is fine, but taking it long term without changing behavior will mask ongoing increasing problems that may lead to permanent injury.  Pain means something is wrong and needs to be changed.  Yes, it’s great to sacrifice for our kids, but we need to take care of ourselves too so that we can keep taking care of our kids!

Seven kids later, I do not use baby carriers as often even though they were a life line in my early parenting years.  Thankfully, there are many hands to hold babies nowadays (though I still am my babies’ primary attachment).  My eldest children do enjoy slinging their younger siblings.  You can believe I work with them carefully on proper baby carrier usage and take action when they express any lingering pain or negative physical effects from their use.

All that said, I’m impressed Motrin would have even considered this as a topic.  Makes me think someone in the ad dept had a fussy baby who responded to slinging.  And it’s kinda cool to ponder that baby wearing has gotten mainstream enough the term “sling” would appear in an ad.  How nice to know the world is getting the idea there are multiple baby carriers, not just the front packs anymore (especially since lots of moms I know have more pain issues w/ the front packs than many of the other baby carriers available today).

I found this ad condescending in tone.  I agree too that it was snarky in some of what was said.

I’d never consider this product from this ad.  Their tone tells me that they do not understand at all or they would never have talked to me as if my brains were on vacation while I raise my kids.

Yup, condescending is the word I would use.

And not worth getting upset over—I’d just tell the company that if they think so little of my intellect then I can just go purchase Advil instead.

I blogged about it Monday morning

I think it was poorly researched and in poor taste but not offensive.

I take no issue that babywearing can be painful (even if done correctly).

I’d have to say my biggest ‘issue’ is the whole fashion/fad connection.

I can see why people who are very much in favor of baby wearing might think that this ad was condescending but I can also say that as a mom who had very large babies and some of them VERY NEEDY, I was very condescendingly told that wearing my babies would solve all their problems and mine. Yeah. That didn’t happen. And when it didn’t, I was told that it was my fault for not doing it right. Ouch. If the baby was unhappy, I wasn’t doing it right. If my back hurt, then I wasn’t doing it right. If he was trying to gnaw through the straps or fight his way out of what he perceived to be a baby straight jacket, then I wasn’t doing it right. So I kind of identify with the woman in the ad saying, “Well, THEY said this was the best thing ever.” But it doesn’t always work that way for every mom or every baby.

Charlotte, wow, I am sorry anyone told you that would solve all your problems. Some babies are just hard to soothe.  It’s terrible to deal with that and be told it’s your fault.

Ok, my response to the ad:  sounded snotty.  “Supposedly it’s a real bonding experience.”  “...Seems to be in fashion”  “makes me look like an official mom.”  I agree, the sacrifice part is overwhelmed by the “I’m a stupid vain person who will do anything to look good” vibe.  It reminds me of the people who told me (in labor!)  “You’re just as much of a mom if you have an epidural, you know.”  Like I am not intelligent enough to want to do something for reasons other than appearances.  I wouldn’t march in the streets over this, but it’s a dumb ad and I’m very glad they pulled it.  We don’t need anyone else making mothers look like stupid sheep who only care about appearances.

MJS, Thank you for your kind words and I am sorry if I sounded bitter. Really, I am not. My point was that sometimes, there is a grain of truth to these misunderstandings and I wonder if that is what people are reacting to. There are some moms who harshly judge those moms who make different choices whether it is baby wearing, serving only organic food or any number of other decisions. Too much exposure to those kinds of moms is what makes Danielle’s motto “do what works for your family” so refreshing!