Whose reputation is hurt most?

In the wake of the Motrin incident, Doyle Albee asks:

Five years from now, will a reaction like the one generated by Motrin be even louder, with more voices led by a passionate core, or will many of today’s passionate leaders become minorities and be less important because they will then represent a much smaller percentage of a much larger population?

Five years from now, we’ll be flying around with jet packs, eating vitamin-enriched food capsules and letting robotic maids take care of our homes… right?

Five years from now, the passionate, vocal core will still be here, but I think the overall level of noise will be louder, so the core will have to be correspondingly louder to rise above the din. A savvy individual with enough time and energy will always be able to attract attention.

More importantly, as the overall level of noise grows, will we get to the point where people (consumers, readers) routinely expect to see this kind of outcry? If so, then yes, companies (and candidates and publishers) will also have to grow thicker skins and learn to block out issues that don’t meet “crisis” criteria.

Obviously, real-time monitoring and response are becoming increasingly important, and companies will have to develop triage strategies. Resources — time and money — are not infinite, so you can’t respond to everything. If this sort of outcry becomes commonplace, businesses won’t be able to respond to every one. They’ll have to focus on identifying the issues with the greatest potential impact on their business.

Understanding the mommyblogger reaction to the Motrin ad

So here’s a question that I’ve seen asked in a couple of places, either directly (in the comments) or indirectly and I’d love know the answer.

Why did the Motrin ad spark such a vitriolic response?

The ad campaign was in poor taste and people found it offensive. I get that. But there are plenty of offensive ads on TV. Why was this one so bad that the mommyblogger community went into crisis-level overdrive?

Why did it spark such an outrage that in addition to thousands of posts and tweets, one blogger tracked down the agency’s communications director to question her over the weekend?

Motrin is ibuprofen and mothers who breastfeed should avoid ibuprofen. I get that too. But this isn’t life-threatening.

The aforementioned blogger makes a point to mention her involvement in the Tylenol incident. This is nothing like the Tylenol incident. No drugs were tainted. Nobody got sick. No physical harm was done. It’s not a real crisis.

Or, rather, it’s purely a crisis of reputation.

But why? The reaction seems disproportionate to the offense. If there’s something I’m missing here, please enlighten me.

Whose reputation will be hurt more?

Now that the dust has died down a bit, are we going to see some backlash against the mommyblogger community for overreacting? Sarah Morgan says she’s having a hard time taking them seriously.

My fear is that this incident will give clueless pre-millennial Fortune 500 dinosaurs corporate lawyers and executives even more reason to say no to social media, and that doesn’t help anyone.