Motrin Moms, Target Too

There are lots of good uses for social media, but I’d like to highlight consumer power today. Social media tools give us the ability to share a message far and wide in near real time. Companies, beware. If you make a misstep, the world is going to hear about it fast and you’d better be listening and prepared to get in on the conversation fast!!

Have you heard about the Motrin ad that got moms across the country in a tizzy? Maybe not, because this amazing incident took place in about the span of 72 hours.

Let me give you the story. Motrin posted an ad on its Web site (watch it above) that used the voice of a mom, citing how while the use of baby carriers and slings made her feel like “an official mom,” they sure made her body hurt and, thus, had to take Motrin. Well, moms across the Internet, bloggers and Twitterers and more, took offense to this seemingly shallow and not very well thought out depiction of moms who carry their babies. And frankly to me, they missed the point. I mean, carriers and slings are supposed to take some of the strain OFF your body. They HELP, not make it worse. But that’s beside the point.

Moms on Twitter created a special group called MotrinMoms just for talking about this topic. They blogged about it, emailed Motrin, called them out on Twitter (read their discussions) and spread the word far and wide. In fact, for a couple of days, it was one of the most popular things discussed on Twitter.

Within 3 days, Motrin posted an apology on its Web site and pulled the ad completely. I think we can thank social media for this quick response. I’m sure it would have happened eventually without Facebook and Twitter and blogs, but moms would have had to write letters, emails, make phone calls — all of which, are not as instantaneous and viral as social media. Kudos to Motrin, however, for listening and doing the right thing. Best thing they could have done in this situation.

Now, on to Target. I hope you will help me spread the word about this as well. Earlier this week, a Mom blogger who writes the “Deal”icious Mom blog, posted a fab deal on Twitter. A Britax carseat, normally $280 now on sale for $42. We really needed a second car seat for our youngest and had been looking for a deal, so as soon as I saw this, I had my husband hop on and buy it. Done, no problem.

Well, two days later, Target sends us an email “canceling” our order because the item was “incorrectly priced”. Here’s what else the email had to say:

“We’re sorry, but we are unable to offer this item for the incorrect price. The correct price is $279.99. We have canceled your order for this item. If you would like to order this item at the correct price, please visit Target.com to check for availability.

Despite our best efforts, a small number of items on our site are occasionally mis-priced. We do, however, verify prices as part of our shipping procedures. If we discover that an item’s correct price is higher than our stated price, we will either contact you for instructions before shipping or cancel your order and notify you of the cancellation. This pricing policy is posted in the Help section on Target.com.”

This is such an example of poor, poor customer service, which I would not expect from Target. In these times of economic uncertainty and predictions of poor holiday sales, do they really want to alienate more customers, a lot of whom are probably moms, their biggest customers?

They have seriously underestimated the value of word of mouth here, as well as the viral abilities to spread this horrible service online. I have started my own group on Twitter – #TargetMoms. See the discussion thus far. Please join me in lobbying Target to correct this grievous mistake. Please blog, Twitter and email them here.

Power to the people man! Thank you social media!