As shocking as it may seem, the concept of inclusivity in marketing was a ground-breaking idea; one that women around the world appreciated, but more importantly, it was something that everyone around the world needed. Dove’s “Real Beauty campaign” was the first brand of many trek into the realm of purpose-driven branding using social media as its main platform to convey this concept.

Source

However, the positive light drawn onto Dove quickly dimmed as their campaigns gained online backlash, highlighting the power of social media marketing. As Ashley Chana mentions in her blog post, the consequences of even a slight misdemeanour are amplified because of the scale of impact that social media marketing. Ashley mentions how social media marketing is to blame for Dove’s rapid decline in popularity. I agree with Ashley that social media promoted Dove’s mistakes and was responsible for its massive public scrutiny.

Source

On the other hand, I believe that social media is also the most effective way to gain support for a company or campaign and can be extremelybeneficial for a company or cause. Take Always’ #LikeAGirl campaign for example.

Always, a feminine hygiene company, needed a way to appeal to the next generation of girls in the face of growing competition. The company tackled this issue, along with the issue of gender norms, through launching an award-winning #LikeAGirl social media campaign that turned a phrase of an insult into an empowering message.

Source

“Girls first come in contact with Always at puberty, a time when they are feeling awkward and unconfident-a pivotal time to show girls the brand’s purpose and champion their confidence.” says Judy John, CEO of Leo Burnett Canada.

The company leveraged the brand’s legacy of support through releasing a video that was just too good to not click ‘Share’ or ‘retweet’; but how much can Always attribute its success to social media marketing? It’s #LikeAGirl campaign video received 85 million views on YouTube from 150+ countries.

“Prior to watching the film, 19% of 16-24s had a positive association toward ‘like a girl’. After watching, 76% said they no longer saw the phrase negatively. Furthermore, two out of three men who watched it said they’d now think twice before using the ‘like a girl’ as an insult” .

We’ve seen in Always’ campaign how social media launched the company into the limelight and we’ve seen through Dove how it can tear down a company’s reputation almost instantaneously as well. Both sides of the argument demonstrate just how powerful social media is and how a company’s greatest asset is to know how to use the platform to its favour; any company that knows how to use the powerful platform to its advantage is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

 

Word Count: 450

 

Works Cited:

Case Study: Always #LikeAGirl. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://www.dandad.org/en/d-ad-always-like-a-girl-campaign-case-study-insights/

Chana, A. (2017, October 15). Dove’s Social Media Disaster – Ashley Chana’s Blog. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/ashleychana/2017/10/15/doves-social-media-disaster/#more-35

Dua, T. (2017, October 09). Dove’s ‘racist’ ad might have cost the brand an advantage it spent 13 years building. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/doves-racist-ad-10-9-2017-10

G. (2015, July 30). 10 Brands Doing an Amazing Job on Social Media. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://www.adweek.com/digital/michael-patterson-10-brands-amazing-social-media/