Nestle
Viral Gets Nestle … The Palm Oil “Incident”
Yes, it’s great when viral advertising takes hold, isn’t it? Nestle Amsterdam achieved “viral advertising icon status” with its fake Jesus commercial (see previous blog posting). Nestle corporate achieved “viral advertising wrath”, big-time, by attempting to remove a viral Greenpeace ad linking Kit Kat bars to climate change from YouTube . “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.”
What chaos! What a backlash!
Activists, outraged consumers and digital geeks all united in the thrashing of Nestle throughout social media outlets. Many were incensed by Nestle’s use of palm oil, purchased through Sinar Mas—a company with one of the worst environmental records and linked to illegal deforestation. Others were angry that a corporation would violate the basic tenets of social media by banning someone else’s video.
Nestle’s rather benign and rarely visited Facebook page was barraged with comments ranging from generally to aggressively nasty comments and other creative expressions of the Kit Kat and Nestle logos. Nestle further dug themselves into a hole by threatening action against copyright violators.
As the online frenzy moved to the terrestrial world through protests and events, Nestle finally took it seriously and on May 17, issued a statement that Sinar Mas is no longer part of their supply chain. However, Nestle does still purchase palm oil from Cargill, which is supplied in part by Sinar Mas. So, the online discussion continues and the anti-Nestle throng continues to multiply.
I like to talk with our clients about emerging consumer demands for transparency … and provide a gentle warning that the days of the passive consumer are over. This trend has steadily grown over the past couple of years, as consumers started scrutinizing company practices in addition to the nutrition labels.
Sustainability is also a huge topic on the minds of consumers, increasing considerablyly as purchase criteria for both foods and supplements. And companies can’t disrespect this; consumers have ways of peeking behind the curtain and are not shy about voicing their findings loudly, clearly and globally.
For those who haven’t seen it, here’s a link to the Greenpeace video as well as info on Nestle’s announcement to discontinue with Sinar Mas.
Nestle Gets Viral … The Kit Kat “Hoax”
The chocolate bar in question
Have you seen the Kit Kat “commercial” starring none other than Jesus himself? Well, not really himself, but something in his image.
It seems that Nestle Amsterdam made a viral “commercial” of an “anonymous Dutch Guy” who took a bite of a Kit Kat bar and an image of Jesus mysteriously appeared in his teeth marks. They produced this on the heels of a week’s worth of media coverage of multiple Jesus-icon discoveries and sent it to two media outlets in the Netherlands. Look, another Jesus in an inanimate object!
Well, the two media outlets ran it, and subsequently the video was picked up all over the world in a matter of days. This was a year ago on Good Friday, and the hits on YouTube continue, as do comments via Twitter, Facebook and in the media. People are still laughing … still insulted … but still talking.
The success of coverage obtained, the viewership and the online dialog generated by this fake commercial is part of the “digital media will kill traditional” onslaught. Yet for world-wide viral appeal, there must be an edge, and typically corporate-America is too frightened to produce something this provocative. Making fun of Jesus on Good Friday? I don’t think so! Poking fun of religious icons in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands is a big nothing. In the US, it’s taboo. Yes, the web is worldwide … but is it a cultural leveler? And if not, what is the ultimate fate of US creative?
Interestingly, most of the online discussion isn’t ripping on the sacrilege, but rather voicing offense over faking the image for purposes of marketing (which never happens in the traditional world, right?) and hoaxing the public with a fake news story.
The case study is fascinating. View, and use your own judgment.
Sweaty Palms for Nestle
We have all heard about Nestlé, maker of Kit Kat, using palm oil from companies that are destroying Indonesian rainforests, threatening the livelihoods of local people and pushing orangutans towards extinction. When Greenpeace released this information the result was a flood of protesters drowning the Nestle Facebook Fan page with negative comments and sending tweets about the company and its practices.
What has helped this story gain traction is the extremely poor response from Nestle itself. When Facebook fans started using altered Nestle logos as their profile pictures, Nestle posted a reply which added fuel to the fire; “we welcome your comments, but please don’t post using an altered version of any of our logos as your profile pic–they will be deleted”.
