P&G’s marketing boss claimed that the scale of anti-pampers complaints made by parents concerned that Pampers nappies were giving their babies rashes was exaggerated because of the viral impact of Facebook.

According to the FT, Procter & Gamble’s Marc Pritchard told attendees at a Cannes Lions event that the launch of Dry Max sparked less traditional complaints than other new product launches, but the power of social media “amplified” the volume of moaning.

The Dry Max range was launched earlier this year. But the new product caused babies’ bottoms to come up in rashes, according to complainants. Inevitably this got everyone with a Facebook account and a baby with a skin complaint joining a group page complaining about the nappies.

Pritchard said: “The difference is Facebook had a much higher amplification of the negative comments. That is one of the things we have to deal with in the new world of brand building.”

To be fair to Pampers, it categorically denies that its nappies cause rashes (they’re specifically designed to prevent nappy rash) and Jodi Allen from Pampers in North America even posted an open letter on Facebook addressing people’s concerns. So it’s not as if the brand is ignoring concerns. P&G also invited two groups of mommy bloggers to its Cincinnati, Ohio headquarters in May and launched and on and offline ad blitz.

But that didn’t stop more than 11,000 people joining a group called “Pampers bring back the OLD CRUISERS/SWADDLERS”.

P&G is two-thirds through a three-year plan to embrace digital media properly – you know, with two arms. And to be fair to Pritchard, despite his frustrations at the tide of online whinging about a product he believes to be without fault, he clearly admires the power of social media.

“With the internet, now you have much more constant real-time connections with consumers and what they are about,” he Pritchard said. “We have a pretty sophisticated monitoring system that is constantly monitoring what people are talking about.” And the company has promised to engage more with people in the build up to product launches and beyond.

It’s another blue chip moving in the right direction. And it’s another admitting that it’s approach has been wrong. And marketers admitting their mistakes is a wonderful thing.

But with a report on the safety of Pampers Dry Max diapers due shortly from the Consumer Product Safety Commission in the US P&G is not out of the, um, poop yet.

Elsewhere Brand Republic reports that rival Unilever says it is set to double its digital spend.