#291 2025 · Vaseline (Unilever) / Ogilvy Singapore · Consumer productslegibility
Rather than deny or ignore 6,000+ viral hacks about its own jelly, Vaseline hired scientists to test each one on camera and stamped the true ones with an official seal
the problem
Uncontrolled viral rumor about product uses, true and false alike
background
Vaseline Jelly had spent decades as a one-note utility product, but by the mid-2020s TikTok and Instagram were flooded with unofficial 'life hacks' claiming it could do far more: grow eyelashes, prime makeup, even fake a soft-focus camera lens. Vaseline had never asked for any of this — the brand identified over 6,000 organic posts making these claims, most unverified, some plausible, some risky.
The instinct for a brand caught inside viral rumor it didn't create is usually to either ignore the noise, risking that false or unsafe claims calcify as 'common knowledge,' or issue a lawyerly denial, which reads as defensive and kills the very engagement the virality was generating. Neither option lets the brand keep the upside of a rumor mill it does not control.
the move
Vaseline and Ogilvy Singapore built a self-sustaining social engine: a brand scientist tested viral hacks in real lab-style videos, replying directly to the creators who posted them. Claims that held up scientifically earned a 'Vaseline Verified' seal, styled like a social-media checkmark; claims that didn't were publicly debunked in the same format, including a fast real-time response when a viral 'camera lens' hack surged online.
the payoff
Unilever/Ogilvy report 63.3 million-plus total interactions, over 136 million social views since the March 2025 launch, 450-plus creators engaged generating thousands of posts, a 27% engagement rate versus TikTok's roughly 4% benchmark, and double-digit e-commerce and underlying sales growth for the year. The campaign became one of the most-awarded campaigns globally over the following year, including Cannes Lions recognition — figures self-reported by the brand/agency and its award submissions, not independently audited.
what came after
Vaseline extended the mechanism into new retail products built directly from verified viral hacks, and the case became a widely cited template for brands treating user-generated rumor as an asset to be tested and owned rather than a threat to be suppressed.
references
- [1]Vaseline Verified — OgilvyOgilvy, 2025ogilvy.com
- [2]Vaseline puts viral beauty hacks to the test in playful new campaignMarketing-Interactive, 2025marketing-interactive.com