Greenpeace remixes Dove's Onslaught video to raise awareness of deforestation

Just in time for Earth Day, check out this new social media campaign from Greenpeace directed at Dove:



According to Greenpeace, Unilever, the makers of Dove, "are buying palm oil from suppliers who destroy Indonesia's rainforests". This video is supposed to raise awareness of this practice.

Update (05/15): Unilever has conceded to Greenpeace's demands to only buy the key ingredient in its Dove soaps from suppliers who can demonstrate they haven't cut down forests.

Greenpeace Multimedia Producer, Daniel Bird, who made the video, gave a presentation on what makes a video viral and posted his notes on the Greenpeace blog. You can read them here.

YouTube Videos Question Authenticity of Unilever's Campaign for Real Beauty Message

We recently discussed Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty and the viral videos generated as part of that campaign (i.e. the Evolution and Onslaught videos). What we haven't discussed yet is an interesting marketing dilemma facing Unilever, the multinational corporation which owns the Dove brand along with about 400 other brands, including personal care brands Axe, Sunsilk, and Lux. Obviously all of these product lines have different brand personalities. So what do you do when two of them clash? That's exactly the dilemma we are talking about here. While Dove's viral videos have been trying to redefine our perception of real beauty, Axe's marketing strategy has been reinforcing the exact stereotype of the woman as sex object that the Dove videos have been trying to dispel. So what's Unilever to do?

Can they reap the benefits of Dove's success in rebranding itself as a socially responsible brand while at the same time supporting Axe's message of female sex appeal? Should Unilever allow one of its own brands to undermine Dove's mission? Can the Dove message come across as authentic when other Unilever brands blatantly reject it? Is this hypocritical?

Here are a two YouTube videos that are calling Unilever on its apparent hypocrisy:





Also see this post from AdPulp.

Dove Onslaught Video - The follow-up to the Evolution Video

Here's the newest Dove video, a follow-up to the "Evolution" video we discussed today.