An Open Letter to Graco

To Whom It May Concern,

Last weekend, I was at Toys R' Us, where I purchased (among other things) a Graco Pack 'n' Play playard. My wife is expecting our second child in a week or so, so we were buying some last minute necessities: an umbrella stroller, some changing pads, a couple skids of newborn diapers, etc.


For moms who know, and the rest of you can go to hell.

We decided to buy a new Pack 'n' Play, even though the one that Zo used is still in fine condition. It's well-travelled, having accompanied us on many cross-country flights and drives as well as a long weekend in Tokyo when Zo was a tiny baby. We decided to go with a new one, though, and ship our old one to Grandma's house, because of the nice features and decent price on this particular unit.

When we got it home and I grabbed the box to get it set up, however, I noticed the slogan on the box:

Graco: For Moms Who Know.

We're big fans of Graco products -- our Metrolite stroller has served us very well, as did our Infant Safeseat -- so when it came to buying a playard there was really no competition. But this slogan ceratinly gave me pause. I love being a parent, and I like gadgets. I like buying stuff, and when the stuff I buy is for my kid, well, that's a plus because I get to feel virtuous, like the hours I spent comparison shopping whatever will result in my kid being happier, healthier, and/or smarter. Granted, a playard isn't going to do that, but believe me when I tell you a playard isn't the only thing I've had a hand in buying for my kids.

A slogan like that might have made sense thirty years ago, but it's a new age. Nowadays people like Alternadad, Metrodad, and The Blogfathers, to name only a few, are taking a much more active role in the parenting of their child. At the very least, they're involved in the buying decisions for the family, and since that's what this is really about maybe it's time to move into the 21st century. Since the only reason you give a product a slogan is to move more product, don't you think you should think about using a slogan that won't turn off half of the buying public?

Two Latin Phrases In One Post! Deep!

Snickers is going to get so much play out of their decision to pull their Super Bowl ad, it almost makes me think it was part of a conscious plan.

The ad features two mechanics kissing, Lady And The Tramp-style, after one of them pulls a Snickers bar out of his pocket and jams the entire thing in his mouth:



After a negative reaction from groups like GLAAD and The Human Rights Campaign, Snickers has agreed to pull the ad from the air and from its website. Of course, in doing so, they still managed to frame the debate and point out how successful the ad was:

"Feedback from our target consumers has been positive. In addition, many media and website commentators of this year's Super Bowl commercial line-up ranked the commercial among this year's top ten best. USA Today ranked it 9 of its top ten picks."

Pulling the ad mollifies those who found it offensive, but it does something else as well -- it also allows them to keep their ad, and by extension their brand, in the news cycle longer, at no cost to them. While they're pulling the ad from the air and their website, they haven't pulled it from YouTube, where it has received over a million hits. I don't know how much an ad buy that brings in a million viewers costs, but it has to be more than what it costs to post something on YouTube (which is, as far as I know, nothing).

There are also, predictably, hundreds of comments about the ad. Also predictably, most embody the race-to-the-bottom mentality seen in most online commenting arenas, with ad hominem attacks and invective being hurled every way. Some people are upset at the ad because it's homophobic, others are upset at the people who are upset, other are upset at the company for pulling the ad, etc etc blah blah blah ad infinitum.

This has all the earmarks of something that's going to get more than a cursory mention in the media -- I envision Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly talking about this at length today, for example -- which means even more free publicity for Snickers.

So you've got the ad generating its own heat for free. You've got some people satisfied that the company reacted positively to complaints of intolerance. You've got other people using that response as another plank in their war against tolerance. You've got pundits,entertainment "reporters" and bloggers (myself including) spilling tons of digital ink on this "issue."

Everyone's happy, but no one is happier than Masterfoods. Did they do it on purpose? Big corporations and advertising agencies don't cynically exploit controversy to boost product familiarity, do they? Of course not. Now excuse me while I go grab a Snickers bar, register some domains at GoDaddy.com, and watch a few episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.