Burts Bees and their corporate parent, Clorox, will launch a new advertising campaign this month :
The two ads are specific in naming ingredients found in competitive products. The lip balm ad defines petroleum, found in many lip care products, as a “nonrenewable hydrocarbon made from crude oil… sometimes used to stop corrosion on car batteries.”
Wow!
“All we want is to focus on educating the consumer,” said Mike Indursky, the firm’s chief marketing and strategic officer. “We have no intention at all to impugn the integrity of any other brand. All the ingredients named in the ads are [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] approved, but they shouldn’t be in products that call themselves natural.”
This has of course created a buzz across the web and beyond. The Greenwash Brigade at American Public Media says:
Good for Burt’s Bees who has decided to “show one ingredient vs. another ingredient,” rather than attacking other brands… personal care products are the least regulated FDA products on the market.
However those in the industry question this new approach. Retailwire wonders:
It’s not unusual for one brand to claim superiority over another using comparative advertising. In the case of the new ad campaign from Burt’s Bees, however, there is a twist in that the brand points out the differences in the ingredients of competing products without mentioning them by name. Is Burt’s Bees on the right track with its new ad campaign? Is drawing attention to specific “natural” ingredients wise?
What impact will this have on advertising and marketing by eco-entrepreneurs? Will you change your strategy? Will this help or hurt your efforts to promote your brand?
What do you think?
Related posts: Who Owns Your Favorite Organic Brand?
Who cares what the words say – that is one gorgeous, natural looking redhead they have pictured on that ad. I want to kiss her on the lips.
Grrr, I’m so torn about the whole thing… I sooo love Burt’s Bees and have for so long but I just recently found out that last year the lovely, natural and niche business was sold to monster cleaning product company Clorox… I felt sick…
Burt’s Bees have never advertised like this before. Probably because they never had the big budgets to do so… but now they do… Is it just me, or does this campaign smack of hypocrisy? Makes me sad to even call them that…
Melissa, I know what you mean. I felt similarly when Tom’s of Maine got bought by Colgate-Palmolive a few years ago. At least they’re continuing to make safe, eco-friendly products, even if the parent company is… not.
I felt just as sick as Melissa when I heard the news. I don’t use Burt’s Bees very often, but I was proud of their popular and eco-friendly products. Way to go Burt!
But if straight-up comparison is what it takes to educate consumers, I’m all for it. Most people don’t want to take time to do the research themselves so seeing it on a product shelf is A-OK with me.
I’m with Kendra… rawr.
I kissed Tom’s of Maine good bye when they sold out to Colgate and I will just as easily kiss Burt’s Bees good bye. They want to sell out to parent companies that aren’t cruelty free, fine with me, its another customer they’ve lost and another cruelty free company that’s just gained a customer
I am very impressed with your site. The quality of the design and content makes it a real winner! Thanks again for a great site and a great resource on the net….
How could I ever be loyal to a company that sold out. Clorox is the opposite of earth friendly. No to mention all the animals they torture. Bye Burt’s Bees sold out and I hope they don’t sell anything else.
It is very interesting to look back and analyze why Burt’s Bees started this ad campaign. They were indeed bought out by a consumer giant that wanted to prove that although the origional company was sold, it would still remain as natural as ever. It seemed to be pretty effective if you ask me since Burt’s Bees is now sold in retailers across America.