Unilever is a pretty big corporation which owns a variety of products and brands. Their brand ownership includes both Lynx (men’s personal hygiene products) and Dove (generally women’s personal hygiene products).
A brief look at the recent advertising of these two products presents a world of difference. Lynx has emphasised the use of attractive and immodestly dressed females to market their products to (generally) young men, while Dove has pitched their advertising to women encouraging greater self-esteem in women by taking aim at the use of overtly sexualised/photoshopped female images.
It is this stark contrast in advertising aims and goals which encouraged a good friend of mine to share his concerns with Unilever. This was his letter:
Dear Unilever,We find the advertising used to promote Lynx products offensive, sexist, and degrading. It encourages men to see women as objects for their use and pleasure rather than human beings of equal value. It gives young men unhealthy and unrealistic expectations of women and relationships.We wish to inform you that we will not only never purchase any Lynx products, but also, since the release of your “Lynx Lodge” campaign, we have decided to never purchase any products that are owned by Unilever.This is for several reasons:1. The Lynx Lodge is little more than a glorified Brothel. Even though we have read statements from your company stating that the women who work at the Lodge are safe, we are highly concerned for the long term physical and mental well-being of any woman working in such a degrading job.2. Unilever owns Dove, which claims to promote a healthy body image for women. We find it extremely hard to understand how a company that is aiming to help women with their self esteem can be undermining their own goal to such an extreme with one of their other brands. Even if Lynx advertising is not aimed at women, they are still exposed to the images of bikini-clad super thin models who men desire. The message from Lynx has a detrimental effect on women that more than undoes any positive messages Dove might be trying to communicate. The inconsistency within your company leads us to wonder if your goal with Dove is to truly help women improve their self esteem, or simply to make money out of them.3. Unilever is willing to use sex to sell products. Surely if your products were of a high quality, this would be unnecessary, as you would be able to advertise them based on their performance rather than eye-catching campaigns. All we know about Lynx is that it is supposed to turn women into crazed sex-driven animals – and in reality this is certainly not the case. Your advertising conveys nothing about what actually makes your product superior to its rivals. While we are aware that this is how most of your competitors behave, surely it is better to stand out as a quality product that does not need to degrade women and deceive men in order to create sales.4. Your company has displayed through these behaviours that it is incredibly irresponsible with the power it has through the media. Unilever appears to be a company that is concerned solely with self advancement and profits, not the wellbeing of its customers.For these reasons, we find it impossible to continue to endorse any of your brands, and we are morally compelled to make our friends aware of the significant lack of ethics and decency demonstrated by your company. We hope that the outcry sparked by your Lynx Lodge campaign will urge you to reconsider the values your company holds, and make some changes to the way you advertise. Unilever is in a position of significant influence over our society, and we hope that you will start to use that power for good and not for your own gain. If these changes were to occur, we would happily purchase Unilever brands.J&J.W.
This was Unilever’s reply:
Dear Mr and Mrs W.Thank you for your feedback and the opportunity to address your concerns regarding our marketing activations.While acknowledging the raised points I would like to take the opportunity to outline Unilever’s practice standards regarding the marketing activities involving our products:We take marketing responsibilities very seriously and are committed to responsible marketing.In all cases we follow the regulatory guidelines, while being respectful of differing views, and taking care not to offend.Unilever adopted a global guideline to prevent the use of ‘size zero’ models or actors in its advertising to ensure that our advertising does not promote ‘unhealthy’ slimness.We follow explicit guidelines about direct advertising to young children.Unilever has a wide portfolio of everyday consumer brands, offering products to consumers that address different needs. Each of our brands talks to its target consumers in a way that is relevant and that communicates the brand’s own unique proposition. Sometimes that proposition is serious and informative; at other times it is light-hearted and amusing.Lynx communicates to its consumers through a series of light-hearted and tongue-in-check advertisements that feature fantasy situations that rarely happen for guys in the real world. Lynx strives to create marketing campaigns and promotions that make women laugh as much as men, and the women featured in our advertising are always in on the joke.The campaign for Lynx aims to build the confidence of young men. For Lynx, it is about the “Lynx effect” – the boost that using Lynx can give to the confidence of young men that often find themselves daunted by the dating game.We do take the concerns of consumers very seriously and thank you for your feedback.Again, we apologise for any offence caused and thank you for taking the time to contact us.Yours sincerelyConsumer Relations Departmentwww.unilever.com.au
So what do you think?
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