• Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, June 15, 2010 10:38 AM

Ellen Byron reports that Procter & Gamble is launching an aggressive online and couponing push for its redesigned Pampers. While P&G always intended to spend aggressively on the revamped product, it is advertising "early and often," says P&G spokesman Bryan McCleary, because some mothers have claimed that the re-engineered Pampers cause rashes or even chemical burns.

P&G has maintained all along that the diapers use the same type of absorbent gel as the older version and that rashes are common. New ads link to a video in which Jodi Allen, vp of Pampers in North America, says: "Please know that if we found any indication at all that our products were less than 100% safe, I would be the first one personally to take action."

P&G has also explained the research and testing behind the new product to two groups of mommy bloggers in Cincinnati. One mom, whose daughter experienced a severe rash when she initially wore the new Pampers, went to the meeting with 13 pages of questions. "I felt by the end of the day, my concerns were resolved," she tells Byron.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Ali Dibadj estimates the brand's market share has increased by an average of about 2.4 points from a year earlier since the launch.

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