Greenpeace campaign shows us the dark side of Dove with “Toxic Influence”

Greenpeace campaign denounces abuse by Dove and its parent company, Unilever, for plastic pollution.

In its fight against plastic pollution, the NGO Greenpeace leaves no stone unturned. Its denunciation campaigns have a great impact on society, which considers the NGO to be one of the most important in the world.

This time, they are suing the beauty brand Dove and its parent company, Unilever. They are doing so by copying the brand’s communication codes and its famous “Toxic Influence” campaign, to reveal a contradiction between Dove’s marketing and its real impact on the planet.

Greenpeace campaign: Toxic Influence

“Toxic Influence: The Dark Side of Dove” is the title of the Greenpeace campaign that denounces Dove for plastic pollution. It is a short film that takes as a reference the acclaimed Dove campaign: “Toxic Influence” launched in 2022 and gives it a critical twist.

In the documentary, while the interviewees praise Dove’s communication policy, the NGO shows them images caused by plastic pollution from Dove products. They denounce how plastic and single-use packaging are damaging countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia, where plastic waste ends up.

The brand has already spoken out about this campaign: “Our ambition at Unilever is clear: to end plastic pollution through reduction, circularity and collaboration. We’ve already reduced our use of virgin plastic by 18% and increased our use of recycled plastic by 22%, and we’ve been recognised by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as one of the companies that has made the most progress in reducing its virgin plastic packaging footprint. However, we recognise that we still have a lot of work to do. Our plastics targets have been updated and are being expanded.”

The NGO campaign coincides with the 20th anniversary of Dove’s famous “Real Beauty” campaign, in which the brand opted for real women with normative bodies rather than models.

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