KeepGreenGoing

Especially interesting from a marketing point of view, here is a short summary of the recent Dove –> Greenpeace –> Backlash –> Social Change chain-of-events.

First: Dove, in an ongoing move to position itself as a “positive body image” brand in a beauty-focused industry, created an ad. The spot, titled “Onslaught,” powerfully illustrates the way media images in culture bombard women from a young age resulting in unrealistic perceptions of beauty.

Then: Greenpeace saw a chance to loudly call ‘foul.’ They created an “Onslaught” parody ad depicting the destruction of Indonesian rainforests for palm oil, a key ingredient in Dove (and many other company’s) products. This segment, which swaps a cute, dark-haired (presumably Indonesian) girl for the cute, red-haired one from the Dove original, is titled “Onslaught(er).”

Within a week: “Onslaught(er)” was viewed over 250,000 times after being posted on Youtube. Perhaps speaking to the power and quality of the ad, response was strong.

Today: The Wall Street Journal reports that Unilever, the parent company that owns and operates Dove, has pledged to only buy palm oil from suppliers able to prove they haven’t cut down forests.

While it’s fantastic that Dove is changing its ways, many companies use palm oil in their products. The assumption is that at least some (maybe a majority) are getting it from forest-destroying suppliers. So while it doesn’t provide the full picture when Greenpeace singles out Dove as a target, it is amazing to stand back and watch a campaign like this work so quickly and effectively.