Are you a Motrin Mommy?

It's always fun when it's actually appropriate for me to don my mommy hat at the office. During business hours. Even better when it's a "mommy blogger" hat.

So imagine my delight when, throughout the week, during the like two nano-seconds I've had to breathe, I've been able to follow the "Motrin Migraine" story. And while I can't bill the time against a client code, it certainly counts as work. It's my business after all.

Have you not heard?

It's started on twitter on Friday.

Spread to the blogs over the weekend.

Then it hit Madison Avenue on Monday.

From wire articles to Ad Age to blogs right and left of center, this is the talk of the internet.

So for those people who think that blogging is not serious stuff, go talk to the execs at Motrin. Better yet, talk to their ad firm (likely to soon be FORMER ad firm). First watch the not-so-brilliant-and-completely-patronizing ad that has, apparently, been running since the end of September.

This isn't the first piece of marketing material that has targeted moms and referred to their babies...our babies...as accessories. I actually saw a PR pitch about 6 months ago, issued on behalf of trendy Phil & Ted's. You know, the cool double-decker stroller company. While they were talking about "toting" children around, they may as well have been pitching a hot new handbag. It amazes me that people think this kind of outreach might actually fly. Just because we have mommy brains doesn't mean that they're completely useless!

So the online mommy mafia was in an uproar over this Motrin ad. Bans and boycotts were called for. Tweets abounded. If you Google the words "Motrin" and "headache," most of the results talk about this ad debacle, not the painkiller. It's an online phenomenon.

End result -- Motrin has pulled the ad, issued an apology, and will no longer overlook, nor underestimate, the clout of mommy bloggers. Perhaps they'll also do a bit more research in to their target audience before launching any new creative campaigns.

That mommies united over one issue and effected change -- major change within a company -- over the course of one weekend is testament to their power and to the effectiveness of this thing we call social media. Whether it's someone as visible (and crazy amazing) as my blogger idol Heather Armstrong, or someone like me who gets a few dozen hits a day, people are out there and listening. I am woman, hear me roar. Amazing!

And shame on you J&J.