The one after the chocolate buttons post

I’m feeling the pressure this morning.

My post last week about the ad campaign for Cadbury chocolate buttons went a little bit mad on Facebook, and has had more views in the last week than any post I’ve ever written. It just goes to show that you can spend hours crafting something informative and interesting, or you can bash out a 10 minute rant about chocolate buttons, and you’ll never really know what’s going to capture people’s imagination.

The trouble is, that never really having had a post blow up like that, I don’t know what to do next. I feel like I should be able to craft something hilarious and newsworthy, something that will make people say ‘we thought that post about the buttons was good but this, this is brilliant!’

Unfortunately I don’t have anything along those lines, and the more I try to come up with something, the worse it gets. Seriously, I’m staring at the screen and all I can think about is laundry. Why laundry? Or my last water bill. I had that through the other day and we were slightly in credit, so that was nice.

I’m also not used to attracting so much comment, and it made me realise why I normally tend to avoid controversy wherever possible. I didn’t personally think that writing about a Cadbury button poster was controversial, but apparently, on Facebook, you can upset anyone. 

Obviously the key group I upset were the people who thought that I was being a terrible parent by not embracing every single moment with my children. Like this commenter:

“Pisses me off seing people always winging about being a mum ffs get me violin for you all…suck it up i personally love all the shit stuff (literally) about being a mum not pooing in peace being sick of cooking having sunglasses poked in my eye…god you only get one life all the good stuff comes back too the proud moments the mothers days and hugs in bed….theres no medals in heaven so appreciate life i personally think.”

Blah blah blah.

Sure, kids are great, but come on, just because you love them, doesn’t mean you have to enjoy getting poked in the eye or never being able to poo in peace does it? No. Hush.

And then there were these sort of comments:

“As much as I agree that getting a poke in the eye or ear with glasses is not fun, also imagine how upsetting that image is for those that can’t have children or who have lost a child.”

Christ. Losing a child is awful, of course it is, but if we all went around with this sort of attitude then no one would ever say or do anything about anything. 

And then there were the downright ridiculous comments, which chose to completely miss the point of my post:

“I’ve known a fair few girls who have had toddlers and plenty of experience in what it’s like to be a mother by the age of 21… I’m quite curious as to why you would choose to make a point of [the agency staff] being that age?”

Good grief. I couldn’t not reply to that one. 

“Because in my experience of advertising and PR, a lot of the staff working on campaigns like this are about that old and yes, you can be a parent at that age (I had a four year old and a degree by then), but statistically, it’s more likely that if you compared a group of 21 year olds and a group of 35 year olds, fewer of the 21 year olds would be parents. (PS I think you’re putting too much thought into this – the whole thing is only meant to be a bit of fun!)”

So all in all, it was pretty stressful, and in future I think I might just stick to writing boring things that no one cares too much about.

Which, luckily enough, is what has just happened.

Job done.

 

Follow:

23 Comments

  1. Jo
    11 July, 2016 / 11:40 am

    Well I thought it was very funny and resonated with my experience of motherhood! I had seen that ad and thought similar thoughts… I just didn’t get it!
    But it appears some didn’t get your rant.
    Of course we should cherish every moment but that doesn’t detract from the pain of being poked in the eye or the frustration of not being able to go to the loo without triggering some automatic homing sensor that means they have to instantly find you to show you something, even when there’s another adult in the house!
    Your other suggestions were much more appropriate

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      11 July, 2016 / 11:55 am

      I know right?! It feels like there are some people that are just looking to pick fault with things. (Me obviously with my rant about the ad, but you know what I mean…)

  2. Laura
    11 July, 2016 / 1:55 pm

    Oh good grief!!

    As someone who thought they’d never have children, lost twins at 5 months, almost lost twins at 6 months and they are now left with some additional needs at being born 3 months early – I am thankful each and every day for my kids and love them to bits. However, I still personally object to not being able to poo in peace! (Or, you know, hide in the loo on Pinterest under the pretence of pooing). The little shits also nicked the last half of my bag of Haribo giant strawbs and about 6 kitkats yesterday (thanks to their 5 year old evil genius younger sister and a step stool) am I meant to delight in that???

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      11 July, 2016 / 2:04 pm

      Yes Laura, I think you are meant to smile fondly, and be grateful for every precious second that they annoy you :-)

  3. Connie
    11 July, 2016 / 3:53 pm

    I think people should get the large rods out of their backsides and stop taking life so seriously! As far as I could tell you weren’t being judgmental or critical (unlike some of the people commenting on your post!) you were just being humorous! Blimey get a grip and see the funny side!

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      13 July, 2016 / 9:46 am

      Well that was my intention Connie – not to cause offence but just to have a bit of a joke! That’s why I put the bit in at the beginning of the post about liking the photo AND buttons! But there you go, you never can be too careful I guess!

  4. Lucie
    11 July, 2016 / 3:59 pm

    People are just so quick to get all offended. Wait until they are sat in a pool of Sambuca vomit at 3am (not mine I might add). I’m telling you that stuff is slippy on a laminate floor

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      13 July, 2016 / 9:46 am

      Hahaha! Is that a teenage child? Nice :-)

  5. Lily
    11 July, 2016 / 6:02 pm

    I think you may have upset a slightly bigger crowd of bloggers/vloggers who have been working on that campaign for a while now… a company you may or may not know about, believing in the “honest face of parenting”… ALL the bloggers featured in the campaign were member of this vlogging company and to write a bad word about them, will inevitably result in a huge backlash! Unfortunately, I think you may have picked on the wrong group, and it wasn’t the campaign that got people annoyed, it was the fact that you aggravated this group of vloggers and the work the company had put into this brand partnership!
    Having said that, I enjoyed the post and totally agree! Haha! xx

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      13 July, 2016 / 9:45 am

      Yeah, I take your point Lily. I have had a chat with the blogger in this particular ad and assured her that I meant no personal offence at all, so hopefully we are okay. (She seems absolutely lovely.) I know another one of the bloggers involved and she appreciates that it was only a joke too, but you’re right, you just never know! I’ve been blogging since 2009 and honestly, I’ve always tried so hard to rise above the whole ‘blogger politics’ thing – I really hope I haven’t managed to alienate a whole chunk of the community in one blow! Oops…

  6. 11 July, 2016 / 8:36 pm

    I don’t spend too much time on social media lately so I hadn’t noticed that post go viral. I had read your original post though and it had made me giggle. They had actually researched that series of ads but like you my experience of pr / brand agencies is that they are often young and with less life experience (I worked in marketing at that age and now feel SO much more qualified simply from my life experiences and becoming a parent etc). You write whatever you wish to and don’t worry what anyone thinks! X

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      13 July, 2016 / 9:47 am

      Thanks Rebecca :-)

  7. 11 July, 2016 / 8:49 pm

    Lol. Some people do amuse me with their comments on social media. People get really uptight about light hearted things. I’m with you on the controversy thing though – even if I think a post will be controversial though, so far none have taken off as so.

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      13 July, 2016 / 9:47 am

      It’s so random though isn’t it watch people latch on to? I’ve spent ages sometimes writing things I think are really good, and thought provoking, and NOTHING. Then this… You can’t tell!

  8. Cressida
    12 July, 2016 / 9:19 am

    Your ‘Buttons’ post made me laugh, A lot. Particularly the campaign suggestion featuring a mum gazing into the fridge while surreptitiously shovelling Buttons into her mouth, because that’s me. Keep going!

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      13 July, 2016 / 9:42 am

      Thanks :-)

  9. Abby
    12 July, 2016 / 9:38 am

    I seriously wonder how some people manage to tie their shoes and leave the house if a humourous post about chocolate buttons upsets them.

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      13 July, 2016 / 9:42 am

      Bonkers isn’t it? I wonder if it’s just that their lives are so boring, they have to try and find drama at every turn??

  10. Emily
    12 July, 2016 / 11:36 am

    The level of spelling and grammar speaks volumes! It’s a good job I don’t have my own blog or I’d probably end up with death threats. Especially when I unleashed my idea for a government issued baby license with an IQ test involved. I can’t abide stupid people.

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      13 July, 2016 / 9:41 am

      Haha! I have thought in the past about selective culling based on IQ as a method of population control…

  11. Jenny H
    13 July, 2016 / 9:24 pm

    Hey it was your buttons post that got me following you! Kids are great and all but your humorous buttons rant personified my mumsy feelings in one go! Keep on ranting and doing what mums do. And enjoy the small wins.

  12. Belle
    9 September, 2016 / 12:30 pm

    Only read the post this morning, made me actually laugh out loud more than anything had for a while. My now 13 year old daughter is the light of my life, truly, but I still wish she would just leave me the f alone for just ten minutes…. (those of you with toddlers, don’t expect it to get any better!!)

    • Jo Middleton
      Author
      12 September, 2016 / 2:55 pm

      Haha! I know what you mean, my 14 year old, (also called Belle), can be very ‘intense’!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.