Unilever Ad

signostic · 30-11-2013 04:36AM #1

I thought this was a great ad but alot of the youtube comments are negative.

Agonist · 30-11-2013 05:41AM

signostic wrote: »

I thought this was a great ad but alot of the youtube comments are negative.

Ugh, what a cynical production. Aimed at ignorant gullible Americans, I suppose. I hope Unilever has underestimated them.

Ghost Buster · 30-11-2013 07:45AM

Agonist wrote: »

Ugh, what a cynical production. Aimed at ignorant gullible Americans, I suppose. I hope Unilever has underestimated them.

Underestimated them to what end? I dont understand your comment tbh.
Nice ad.

BillyMitchel · 30-11-2013 02:09PM

Agonist wrote: »

Ugh, what a cynical production. Aimed at ignorant gullible Americans, I suppose. I hope Unilever has underestimated them.

WTF are you on about? What Americans got to do with that?

Lou.m · 30-11-2013 02:32PM

Ghost Buster wrote: »

Underestimated them to what end? I dont understand your comment tbh.
Nice ad.

The comments seem to be drawing attention to the fact that Unilever is a publicly traded company trying to expand it's company base and is exploiting the plight of others in the world to portray itself in the same vein as a NGO or something. American audiences are used to seeing individuals and companies portray themselves like this when they are actually making a lot of money from doing so. It is the Oprah audience.

Yes it is offensive to single out Americans but it might be said you see this more in American culture.

The 'Ad ' is actually being touted as a short film ...it is linked to project sunlight.

https://www.projectsunlight.co.uk/

Here is a link to 'project sunlight'

The problem is that it is difficult to find out what it is project sunlight does ..because it does nothing...it actually DOES NOTHING

It is a campaign....it openly admits it is nothing but a campaign.

It says it wants people to live more sustainably..however it as a company is as guilty as sin ..it is showing ads on YouTube and the 'project sunlight page is littered with ads from companies like Kenco and Knor'

It is pontificating to people on living sustainably simply to make money and gain costumers when it is an offender.

It's a Gimmick...very gimmicky

I wonder how Unilever's approach to provoking emotional responses from heavily pregnant women and their partners would fare under the exacting gaze of a university ethics committee.

It is an advert that wants to rape your perception of itself.

iguana · 30-11-2013 02:45PM

Where is my mind?

Fukuyama · 30-11-2013 02:49PM

iguana wrote: »

Where is my mind?

Think so.

Love that song.

Mint Aero · 30-11-2013 02:55PM

Which is worse, that or the Guinness wheelchair ad

Lou.m · 30-11-2013 02:58PM

Dean0088 wrote: »

Think so.

Love that song.

Ditto

PIXIES

PLACEBO

:cool:

Gi joe! · 30-11-2013 03:06PM

Its hard to take this campaign seriously when it comes from a company that has had several controversies regarding its own environmental record.

Along with this, there's also a glaring contradiction between the campaign and Unilever's overall business objectives. Their telling us in this advertisement to be more conscious and sustainable in our consumption habits so that the world will become a better place for all, yet the best way to do this would be to buy less products that aren't required(products that Unilever themselves would sell).

Would Unilever be really all that thrilled if sales of their shampoo and conditioner products fell because the same consumers who watched this ad switched to just using plain old soap?

seamus · 30-11-2013 03:25PM

When you know enough about marketing, it's difficult to see this as more than a cynical marketing project.

Specifically, numerous studies have shown that people who undergo big life changes, are extremely suggestible to marketing and are the most likely to change their shopping habits. People who are comfortable tend to stick with what they know. Marketers are aware of this and specifically target people who are undergoing these changes.
There are few bigger life changes than the arrival of your first child - you're suddenly buying tonnes of stuff you never bought before, your money is depleted, and you're tired. Pregnancy/baby ads are very strongly geared towards this and trying to make new parents feel "cuddly" towards a specific brand, such as Unilever, so they will buy Unilever products and therefore stick with Unilever products when they get some stability back in their life.

That's the purpose of this ad and it's why Unilever and P&G seem to spend massive amount of money on baby-related advertising, especially really "emotional" advertising rather than to-the-point advertising.

This ad at least is somewhat OK. Unlike P&G's ads which are so sexist and ageist they belong in the 1950s. According to them, until a child comes along, men are nothing but savage violent beasts and grandparents are just sad shells of human beings waiting for the release of death to take them. Oh, and of course P&G would tell you that only Mums have any impact on a child's life and are the only ones who matter. Scumbags.

libsduf · 04-12-2013 08:16PM

This came up on youtube and immediately i was like whats the angle. I googled it and this is unilevers selfless aim
"Project Sunlight will initially live in an online hub – www.projectsunlight.com(Link opens in a new window) – which brings together the social mission stories of Unilever’s brands across the world, and invites consumers to get involved in doing small things which help their own families, others around the world and the planet. Some of the brand programmes featured include Lifebuoy soap, which helps protect millions of children in Asia, Africa and Latin America from pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease, which kill 2 million children under five each year; Dove, which helps girls across the world improve their self-esteem; Omo, Persil and Surf, whose detergents help families cut their utility bills and CO2 emissions; Comfort One Rinse, which helps families in water-scarce countries in Asia reduce their water use; and Lipton, Magnum and Knorr, whose use of sustainably grown ingredients helps small farmers grow better crops and improve their livelihoods.

Ok so lets live sustainably by encouraging people to use chemical rich soap, detergent and beauty products and eat processed foods with little or no nutrition. How dumb do they think we are?????

fits · 04-12-2013 08:37PM

Gi joe! wrote: »

Its hard to take this campaign seriously when it comes from a company that has had several controversies regarding its own environmental record.

Ok I have to wade in here. In my experience, unilever are absolute world leaders in terms of minimising the environmental impacts of their products. They employ brilliant scientists who work to this end and yet they don't really publicise it or use this work for marketing purposes. They have a pretty comprehensive website here http://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/

I asked a professor recently why do they invest so much energy in this, and the answer was, it optimises their processes. Waste and pollution cost money. Maybe theres an element of ethical business practice there too. I don't know. I hope not all multinational companies are unethical.

So be cynical as you like, but I am pretty impressed by them.

I don't know anything about project sunlight though.

Unilever Ad

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