Procter & Gamble, facing a social media-fueled fire that is starting to burn, is now budgeting emergency marketing funds, the Wall Street Journal reports today, to extinguish the furore over its Pampers Dry Max diaper brand. A month after mommy bloggers started hounding P&G on popular social media sites, the criticism continues with moms complaining the new diapers lead to rashes and are prone to leaks. Will P&G’s new marketing moves be enough to avoid a nasty PR burn?

Last month, we reported that P&G’s marketing response to a mommy blogger-driven social media attack on its Pampers Dry Max was a big success. But it’s clear the moms still aren’t happy. They are storming the parent discussion forums such as Mumsnet, complaining of diapers that last just one hour or to Facebook calling P&G out for its failure to address the problems (and even its perceived apathy towards its customers). To hear the protests, it sounds as if moms have had enough. As one writes on Pampers Facebook page:

The Dry Max is NOT working for us and I’d like to speak with someone. It isn’t just the skin reaction but the quality as well. I’d rather not turn this into a pubic rant with details, so can someone from Pampers please contact me since I’m having no luck contacting you?

Back at corporate HQ, P&G cooly defends the Dry Max diaper, saying it does not cause any new form of rash while still stepping up its response to complaints. When the PR crisis took off last month it even hired outside crisis communications specialists and dedicated a chunk of its research department to review the claims. Its findings? There’s nothing to worry about, a conclusion mommy bloggers just aren’t buying.

So now the package goods giant is throwing more resources at the problem in an attempt to convince moms everywhere that these diapers are indeed “dry” and offer “max” protection.

It plans to do this in three ways. First, it is opening up all channels to field angry complaints. A lot of complaints. Second, it is launching a big online advertising campaign that, as the Wall Street Journal notes, “reflects recently devised plans to advertise ‘early and often,’ because of the negative attention the new diapers have drawn.” Third, it is issuing more coupons, hoping to encourage more moms to try them.

Still, P&G will have to counteract all the questions about the perceived ineffectiveness of Dry Max, questions that are showing up even on the WSJ.com, and from, eek!, dads:

For P&G, the new campaign may not be arriving soon enough. The vows to defect are growing louder.