Back in November I posted about the controversy surrounding the mixed messages Unilever has been sending with its seeming concern (via Dove and the “campaign for real beauty”) for the body images of young girls via its Onslaught video (see below), and the fact that it owns Axe body spray, a product whose ads feature young, slim women lusting after those men who use the product.
In response to the Onslaught video, an ad exec created his own mashup video, warning parents to “talk to your kids before Unilever does.”
Greenpeace has now jumped into the field, creating its own Onslaught-type video, focused on the fact that palm oil, which is destroying rainforests in Indonesia, and thereby contributing to forest destruction, species extinction, human and animal suffering, and global climate change, is an ingredient in some Dove products.
This new campaign provides an excellent opportunity to look at the interconnectedness of issues, and the impact of all the choices we make every day. When we buy a product, we’re not just buying that product, we’re also buying everything that happened to create, market and distribute that product, and we’re buying whatever the impact of the disposal of that product is. Every time we make a choice, we’re choosing to support and nurture practices that are cruel, destructive, unjust and violent, or practices that are restorative, just, compassionate and sustainable.
Books like Stuff, the web video The Story of Stuff, and some of our humane education activities can also serve as useful resources for investigating the power of our choices, and the extent to which we have an impact on people, animals and the planet.
(Thanks to Corporate Babysitter for the heads up about Greenpeace’s Unilever campaign.)
~ Marsha, Web Content/Community Manager
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