BP Oil Spill: Marketing Opportunity?

So far, only 27 birds have been brought to wildlife centers to be cleaned up from the BP oil spill, according to an article in the NY Daily News. The article also claims that three oily turtles have been taken to wildlife centers for cleaning. However, other estimates in the article say that 25,000 animals have already died in the wake of the oil spill.

But, it looks like Dawn soap is coming to the rescue. And Proctor & Gamble, Dawn’s parent company is reaping the benefits.

Dawn soap is the only soap approved to clean up animals affected by the oil spill. Their commercial features someone using Dawn cleaning a cute duckies and baby otters with the soap. You can watch it here: Dawn Animals Commercial.

Oh my god, how cute, right? Everyone should run out and buy some Dawn!

I’m sure that’s the response the Dawn executives were hoping for when they made these ads.

Dawn also changed the packaging on their liquid soaps to feature cute and cuddly animals. And they’ll donate a dollar for each bottle you buy…if you read the fine print on the label and go to a website they specify.

How many people are going to go to that website?

Certainly not everyone who buys a bottle of Dawn soap.

And that is where Proctor & Gamble’s altruism is shown to be a shiny marketing ploy.

Every little bit of help counts. I’m not knocking the good Dawn’s done so far. And I applaud Dawn’s contribution to helping repair some of the environmental damage caused by the BP oil spill.

But why the extra steps? Why can’t they automatically donate the money instead of making their customers jump through hoops?

It’s great to see major corporations pulling together and working towards the greater good. But it’s sad to see even the best intentions turned into a money-making campaign.

Hats off, though, to Dawn for at least giving some back.

By Jessica Livingston