Official Complaint to Mumsnet

What colour shall we make it boss?

Ummmmmm....dunno. What do we have a surplus of?

Oh, that green we made the knock-off Baby Yodas from perhaps? Loads of that knocking about boss.

Perfect! Everyone loves green! If anyone asks, say it's our most requested colour.

you could literally predict Mumsnetter's responses to it - whatever side / no side they're on, it's textbook down to the Volvo jokes. So why walk into it? How could you not see this response coming. Is it that this much talking about it isn't a negative thing because for all the outrage it's visibility and some sales?

This is what I can't understand. Who signed off a campaign that was so obviously objectionable on so many levels? And why? Was the whole intent to wind everyone up to get more attention?

Marketing man "we're going to target this at mothers because of how sex is all taboo for mothers"

Actual woman "err no. We're just sleep deprived and covered in baby drool"

Second marketing man " let's add some baby bottles to the graphics too, just in case they forget that their entire identity is about babies now"

Know your target demographic, MN. First rule of business - don’t piss your customers off. We’re more clued up than you seem to think we are.

Recent scenes:

It's not just the stripping women of humanity by reducing us to our sex bits, it's not just the paedophilic using baby bottles as bullet points on a VIBRATOR article, but they couldn't even get female designers, Mumsnet chose 2 men to do the job, that's the ultimate smack in the teeth, like as if these men would know 1 hundredth of a fuck all about womens vibrators and what women like. Then, to top it all off, they supposedly signed off on the pedo baby bullets and the dehumanising language.

And NOW pretend, simply because we (and they should have predicted this) kicked off that they care and are 'listening' to us. If mumsnet had listened to us for the last 5 years, they would never, ever, EVER have approved of it in the first place. Even chose 2 men (wtf were they thinking collaborating with men on this?!???), as well as approved the design/layout of the blurb. And the dehumanising wording. How could they not have seen this happen?

And yet they went with Shrek. Everyone loves Shrek right?

Based on this, I’m surprised they didn’t just make it in the shape of a mini baby bottle 🤦‍♀️

😂😂😂

I couldn't agree more with this, thrown in the firing line as always, I would hate their job tbh.

What I think is hilarious about this, is that you could literally predict Mumsnetter's responses to it - whatever side / no side they're on, it's textbook down to the Volvo jokes. So why walk into it? How could you not see this response coming. Is it that this much talking about it isn't a negative thing because for all the outrage it's visibility and some sales? Even without the 'young men on The Apprentice' style marketing it's obvious the way this would go.

I'm 100% sure a focus group of say, just one of us, could have seen this coming enough to spoof write the whole thread. I can't imagine Justine not predicting it.

I mean - imagine the PR brainstorming:

'What products can we sell to Mumsnet's core audience? Anyone? Just throw the ideas out there, there's no silly suggestions! Damien! You look like you've got something to say!'

'Well... my dad got my mum one of those electric fan things on a lanyard for her birthday..'

'Yes. YES! Love it, Love it. Put it on a post-it Philomena, stick it in the Menopause section. Mumsnet X Davina! Come on then, what else - new mothers? Anna, you've just had a baby, can you turn your video screen on please, let's see those microexpressions! Yes Molly-Maie - what have you got for us?!'

'So, well, like, sex and pregnant people or like new baby havers, that's taboo right. And like self care is so important. So I was thinking maybe a sex toy so that new mu... vulva... havers.. can feel, like...empowered?'

'Now we're talking! Molly-Maie you're on to something! Damien, I want you to team up with Anna on her next keeping in touch day to come up with a proposal on this!'

I've been around these parts a while and unless the usual mods have been abducted by aliens this all smacks a bit of them firefighting something they warned would happen and were ignored.

Yup

I agree @BoreOfWhabylon, I've been around these parts a while and unless the usual mods have been abducted by aliens this all smacks a bit of them firefighting something they warned would happen and were ignored.

Maybe they're all being threatened with being stroked on the face with Shrek ears until they comply.

And the bloody colour made no sense until I looked at the top of the screen today. It's fucking 'OP GREEN'! Like, you're going to be checking a thread and then like Pavlov's wanker, think, oooooooh Whispertime!

Agreed

I'd be very surprised if @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet and her moderating team weren't as appalled as the rest of us by all this.

As usual, they are the ones who have to deal with the (entirely predictable) outrage and general pissed-offness that this tone-deaf, illiterate, offensive, language-mangling, women-erasing nonsense has produced.

The baby milk bottle icon is incredibly icky next to phrases such as ultra gentle stimulation on the vulva for pain free exploration and an external toy to take the focus off penetration.

Slightly unrelated but adding to the ick factor: The 'sponsored by' carousel section on the MN homepage has these two articles side by side:

• Combi feeding your baby: How to make mixed feeding work for you
• Introducing The Whisperer, the sex toy designed for new mums

www.mumsnet.com

Both sponsored stories are aimed at mums of babies. It's interesting what the advertising team are going for here. It doesn't look great, 'just bottle feed your baby (after you buy all the bottle feeding products we are adverting here) and then off you go have yourself a little me time with the Whisperer, it won't wake your baby'.

On a side note, the Combi feeding your baby ad is highly questionable in regard to UNICEF's International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. I mixed fed one of mine myself so it's not about BF versus bottle feeding. It's just interesting how bottle feeding is being given a boost on MN now, it used to have an excellent community supporting Bf women.

I do understand and I do agree it sounds like that

I’ve just blocked lots of topics, as well as the Sex topic. I might block The Royal Family when the next book comes out.

I am so glad I'm on the mobile site with an ad blocker. I am a woman who has a vulva, I am offended by this ad.
I also found out recently that all the gaps in my active convos were caused by my ad blocker blocking mumsnet promos.

Appreciate that @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet but the Instagram post with the baby bottle bullet points explaining the benefits of the vibrator was a collab post, so shared on the grid of the brand and the Mumsnet grid.

So I wondered what Mumsnet's thoughts were as a company on the use of that emoji in that context, as it's on your own brand's social platform not just theirs?

Also disappeared from ‘threads I’m on’. Pretty low response from Becky, all in all. Frankly I wouldn’t expect anything more. They’ve shown us what they are and how low they’ll stoop.

@PlaitBilledDuckyPuss I feel the same. I know that people get up to all sorts of things in bed (probably all over the place) but I really don’t want to read about them.

Hear hear !!!!!!!!

www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/4733509-have-some-peoples-hidden-topics-become-unhidden?page=2&reply=123591471

No announcement or explanation until it was mentioned here.