SCDigest Editorial Staff
| SCDigest Says: |
 While Unilever said the changed sourcing policy was already in the works, clearly the ability of pressure groups to leverage the so-called new media to create awareness of protests against corporations now resembles the “viral” marketing campaigns many of the same companies are increasingly trying to use to promote their own products.
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In something of a reversal, consumer products giant Unilever last week said henceforth that it would source palm oil, a key ingredient in some of its most popular brands of soaps and skin care products, only from suppliers which can demonstrate their techniques don't contribute to deforestation.
Previously, Unilever had resisted the sourcing policy change, saying it would drive even higher prices for palm oil, used in such Unilever brands as the iconic Dove soap.
Though Unilever execs downplayed the impact, an aggressive campaign by Greenpeace preceded the change in policy. As prices for palm oil rose substantially, similar to prices for many other commodities, suppliers in Indonesia and Malaysia were said to be clearing rain forests to plant additional palm tree groves, to the dismay of environmentalists.
Greenpeace spent almost $100,000 on a campaign that included protests at Unilever’s London headquarters, leaflets and other traditional tactics. But what may have been most effective was a video that was delivered in part via YouTube, the popular video site. That video shows images of rain forests disappearing and orangutans (which live in the rainforests) dying, interleaved with images of Dove soap on retail shelves.
Statistics on YouTube indicate the video was watch more than 250,000 times the first week it was posted on the site.
“Viral” Pressure Tactics
While Unilever said the changed sourcing policy was already in the works, clearly the ability of pressure groups to leverage the so-called new media to create awareness of protests against corporations now resembles the “viral” marketing campaigns many of the same companies are increasingly trying to use to promote their own products.
In the past, the London protests would probably have sparked little media coverage, or been only a local UK news story.
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But the ascendance of YouTube and other social media sites such as Facebook or MySpace, plus increasing armies of bloggers, means groups seeking to put pressure on companies for any number of perceived supply chain sins, such as labor or environmental conditions among suppliers, can get to global scale and rapid consumer awareness literally overnight.
