Universal Remote? Yes. Universal Studios? Yes. Universal Mom? No.

When we were at BlogHer last summer, Devra moderated the panel MommyBlogging: The Commercial Momosphere: Policies, Ethics and Outreach . During that discussion she made the point "there is no universal mom" and any marketing firm or pr campaign making that assumption would be finding themselves with a huge marketing misstep on their hands. Evidently the folks who came up with the latest Motrin ad campaign missed the session. Pity.

(For those wondering what the bruhaha is about, here is a roundup as to who's blogging about it.)
This particular headache isn't going to go away on its own. Our take on the situation? Mistakes happen. Motrin needs to do the right thing ; apologize, take the ad down and move on.*

What relieves us (heh, heh, we said "relieves") most of all is the ad campaign has not ignited mommy war rhetoric. Instead parents and non-parents are coming together with a "Yo, Team Motrin, you could have done far better and here's how..." So far we've been pleased that a majority of the online community has not used the ad campaign to diss each other on our parenting decisions and practices. Which easily could have happened. It could have gotten very ugly. It wasn't too long ago we saw a comment thread from an article about the Top 7 Mommy Guilt Trips morph into a vitriolic debate over breastfeeding. Yes. Really. And it was stomach churning. Thankfully it looks like we're not going to need an antacid, it's more likely we just need an ad pulled from circulation. Just pull the ad and chalk it up to "lessons learned." Move on.

If this Twitter-based example of grassroots-social media- inspired-parental unity were represented by one voice, we think it would sound a lot like Jon Lovitz yelling, "Get to know me!" and then maybe it would break out into song to shed more light on why Motrin gave us such a headache.



*Edited to Add at 11:41PM, Looks like the ad is coming down. Most excellent!

**After we wrote this post and Motrin pulled the ad and apologized, we started to read the feedback about the apology from the many sides of the situation. Responses to the apology have been mixed and varied among bloggers, news media, marketing, advertising and PR folks; some pleased, some not so pleased. Some understand, some are confused. Some happy, some angered. And some don't really give a crap anymore and just want to watch Top Chef tonight. Um, okay that last one would be Devra, because, well you know. Whether you decide to do something, let it go or watch escapist tv, we truly hope everyone will eventually get to a place where, as Aviva loves to say, "We all move forward with a renewed spirit of understanding."

Disney called, they want their mistake back

Guess what? Phil won't be the only new face at the Parentopia Passover Seder this year. Craig Dezern from Disney has also scored himself an invite. Craig, who oversees PR for the Disney Parks, responded to an email we sent to Disney regarding the blogger event scheduled on Passover.

Craig did exactly what we would expect from a stand-up guy working with a company that understands a terrible and unfortunate mistake was made. Craig offered a no-excuse apology from Disney for their failure to check the date and realize they had planned an event on Passover. He said it was wrong, he said it was accidental and he said he was very sorry. We accept his apology, we accept Disney's apology.


PR folks, we understand screw ups happen. We're all human. But when the mistakes happen take responsibility, apologize wherever necessary, educate yourself or those responsible for the error so it hopefully will not be repeated, perform an act of contrition if warranted, and then move on.

This is exactly what Craig is doing at Disney. Craig will be meeting with his PR team and reinforcing with them calenders must be checked and there is no excuse not to check a calender. It is a simple, and obvious, thing to do when planning an event. Period. Craig also told Devra apologies will also be extended to those bloggers whom had been invited to the event and had to decline due to the event being scheduled on Passover. It is our understanding those bloggers will be invited to a future Disney event.

Learn from Craig and the way he handled the situation, notice he did not offer even one excuse, not one backpedal applied. Not even and inkling of, "We're sorry, but..." He kept it simple; An apology and a promise to do better next time.

And that,to quote a former Mouseketeer,is exactly "What a girl wants, what a girl needs..." and makes us happy.

Oy Vey, they did it again.

We hope corporations are paying attention to the mistakes made when Social Media outreach folks either are oblivious as to how communication should be managed or don't take the time to learn about the consumers they are trying to woo. These two recent gaffes left us shaking our collective head.

Aviva received this email from Phil from Weber Shandwick,

Hi Aviva,

I thought you might be interested in these recipes to add a little variety to your Easter morning brunch from Eggland’s Best. After the egg hunts and visits from the Easter Bunny are over, gather the family around the table and enjoy these tasty meals. Also remember, EB feeds their hens all-natural, vegetarian ingredients, so they are healthier than ordinary eggs.

There are also other great brunch ideas available at http://www.egglandsbest.com/recipes/recipelist.asp?catno=1&pg=recipe.

Hope you enjoy these recipes. Feel free to share them with your readers if you like.

Happy Easter!

Phil

Well Phil - Thanks for the links and the two recipes you included in your email. Believe me, having Easter morning brunch at all would definitely "add a little variety" to our family's weekend plans. You see Phil, if you had bothered to read anything on my blog or website you would have noticed references to the fact that I am Jewish. Phil, if you didn't get the memo, Jews don't observe Easter. We observe Passover.

Phil, dawg, don't be too hard on yourself. Maybe you just need a better office calender. But you are in fine company. We recently learned of an event scheduled by Disney in April. Devra has penned a brief open letter:

Dear Disney PR Team,
While it is lovely for you to plan an event for mommy bloggers, your event is taking place April 18-20th during Passover.
Human Resources called, they want their diversity training back.
Wishing you well,
Devra

Weber Shandwick and Disney why don't you read this, this and this. Oh and bookmark this. We're all about embracing imperfection at Parentopia. Fully understand oversights occur, we know mistakes get made, despite the best of intentions. Just learn from them, okay?