Commodity Activism

From Tokyo, Japan and Auckland, New Zealand, this is Down to Business English, with your hosts Git Montreau and Samantha Vega.

Hello there somehow. It certainly has been quite a while.

Yes, it's been some time since we've gotten together. Are you doing well, Skip?

I think so. Winter is almost finished here in Japan. of cold weather to get through.

That's good. We're almost done with summer here. So I'll have to get ready for the cold in a few weeks. I'm not a fan of winter, but they are milder here in New Zealand than back in most parts of Canada.

They are really having a cold one this year. I guess I shouldn't complain.

compared to winters in Canada. All I need here is Uniqlo winter vest under my suit jacket, some kind of neck protector, and some fairly thin wool gloves, and I am good to go.

Wow, that's it?

Pretty much. Oh, and I usually Some facial hair goes a long way on a cold, windy day.

Does it really?

Well no, not really, but it is a good excuse not to shave.

That's what I thought. My partner uses winter as an excuse not to shave as well.

What brand of razor does he use? Gillette by any chance?

I've no idea. Why do you ask?

Gillette, the famous men's razor and grooming product company, recently released an online ad that caused quite the controversy.

Ah, yes. I heard about that.

Did you see it?

I did as a matter of fact. It's a little overblown of a controversy if you ask me, though.

Yeah, I agree, but from the point of view of marketing and promotion, you could certainly call it an interesting campaign.

It's always business, business, business with you, isn't it?

The name of the show is Down to Business English after all.

Is that our topic today, Gillette's marketing campaign?

Not just that. Today we're going to be talking about a marketing trend that more and more companies seem to be deploying. A strategy that has been termed as commodity activism.

Like when a brand latches onto a social issue and centers their product marketing around that.

Yes, just like that.

Okay, let's do it. Let's get D2B, down to business with commodity activism. What exactly is it? And more importantly, is it a successful marketing strategy?

All right, Skip.

What exactly is meant by commodity activism? Give me a complete lowdown.

Commodity activism is a term that refers to when a corporation uses a social issue as the backdrop of their marketing.

So when a company ties their brand or product to a social issue that many people feel strongly about, that's commodity activism?

That is another way to put it. Yeah.

And this recent Gillette ad is a good example?

It is indeed. You said you have seen it.

I have.

Then why don't you talk us through it just in case any listeners haven't seen it yet?

Well, the ad is basically Gillette's take on the Me Too movement that has gone global in the last couple of years. As that movement focuses on the issue of sexual harassment and abuse against women, and Gillette's marketing motto is the best a man can be, they blended the two themes together.

For example, what does the ad show?

Oh, you see men and boys engaging in activities that at one time were socially acceptable or at least tolerated by society. And it encourages men to change this behavior. To do or say the right thing, when they witness harassment, and

And the commercial ends with the catchphrase the best a man can be. So it is kind of a play on words.

Exactly. Be a good person and use Gillette products to help you do that. Pretty clever, actually. But I still can't understand why it was controversial.

Well, for whatever reason, it certainly did get a lot of backlash on social media.

Many people did complain that the ad was laden with stereotypes and made light of very serious social issues in order to increase sales.

And there were even calls to boycott Gillette products because they weren't taking the Me Too movement seriously.

Is that right? I didn't hear about those. So the campaign kind of backfired on Gillette. There must have been some glum faces in their marketing and sales department.

Actually no, I think it was quite the opposite. In fact, I think the whole ad campaign was a success.

Yeah. Do you think Gillette intended to create a controversy?

Well, according to Pankaj Nahala, Gillette's North American brand director, that was not their intent. Although he also said that Gillette was happy to contribute to the social conversation surrounding the Me Too movement.

So they didn't plan on creating a controversy. So why do you think the ad was such a success? I mean, it's not good that there are calls to boycott Gillette.

True, but remember the old adage there is no such thing as bad publicity. This ad created a lot of buzz for Gillette, and buzz is a good thing for any company.

Even one as big as to let? I mean, they must have a corner on the market in the razor department.

Ten years ago that might have been true. At that time, they had something like 70% market share. But online startups like Harry's Razors and the Dollar Shave Club have really been giving them a run for their money. And Gillette is now sitting at only about 50% market share.

So Gillette being the old man on the block has been facing a lot of competition and had to do something.

They first tried slashing their prices a couple of years ago, which did help, but they needed to do something else to grow their consumer base. Do you have any idea how old Gillette is?

Oh boy, they've been around as long as I can remember. So in the end, the controversy that this ad generated was good for Gillette?

Yes, preliminary marketing data shows that the ad broadened their audience.

And how do they know that?

Marketing research companies have gone out and analyzed all of the social engagement that the ad was getting on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Sixty-two percent of the conversation surrounding this ad was generated by women, and seventy-five percent of those women were under the age of thirty-five.

And the significance of that is a little bit more than that.

Well, what would be your guess?

I suppose the growth potential in women's beauty care is much higher than in the more stagnant men's grooming market. Gillette makes most women's razors too.

Mm. That is spot on, Samantha, and not only does Gillette want to be better known by women, their profit margin on women's razors is much higher than on men's razors.

So if this ad, as controversial as it was, promotes the brand among women, in the end, it's very good for Gillette.

Exactly.

But they are making more money off of women's razors. That doesn't sound very equal to me.

Hm, I suppose that is true too.

This kind of reminds me of what Nike did with Colin Kaepernick last year as well.

That is another great example of successful commodity marketing. Can you tell our listeners about that?

Well, Colin Kaepernick was top tier quarterback for the National Football League. He was earning millions of dollars playing for the San Francisco Forty Niners. But back in twenty sixteen, he started kneeling during the singing of the American National Anthem before the games as a silent protest against police brutality in the US.

And at the end of that season, his team did not renew his contract.

But Nike wasn't afraid. Last year they featured him in an ad and sales boomed. Their stock rose about five percent within a year in an all time high for the company.

As I said, another excellent example of commodity activism. But there are also many other examples of poorly executed marketing campaigns centered on this strategy.

I'm sure there are. But let's save that for another day. I think it's time now for you and I to get D two V. Down to vocabulary.

Down to business English audio scripts are a great learning tool. Be sure to visit the D2B website and download your free audio script of today's podcast. Down to businessenglish dot com that's WWW dot down to businessenglish dot com.

And we are back.

Well we were not gone for very long, but yes, we have returned.

I know, I just wanted to say we are back because we're going to start D2V off today with three different words, all using the word B.

Back. And do they all mean the same thing?

The last two are a little bit related, but the first one means something completely different.

Okay, so what's the first word using bat?

It is the compound noun backdrop. Let me give you an illustration of backdrop. If you ever have had your passport photo taken, you probably went to a photo studio where the photographer took you into a small room, sat you down at a small, uncomfortable table. Reach behind you and pull down a white or maybe even a green screen.

The last time I got my passport photos taken, it was a blue screen.

Whatever the color, that screen is a backdrop. So

So it is a synonym of background.

That's right.

In our report, I defined commodity activism as when a company uses a social issue as the backdrop of their marketing. In other words, when a company uses a social issue as the background for their advertising message.

A good example of backdrop in a business context would be what is happening in the UK.

Would you be referring to the Brexit?

That is exactly what I am referring to.

I thought so.

It is such a mess that multinational companies such as Airbus, Sony, Panasonic, and JP Morgan are all considering pulling out. They say that it has become impossible to do business in the UK when the backdrop of the economy is the uncertainty of Brexit.

Good example. Do you want to talk about our next word?

Sure, the next compound noun using back is backlash.

And backlash has several nuances, doesn't it?

It does, but we used it in the report to mean a negative reaction to something.

In the story.

Skip commented that Gillette's ad received a lot of backlash.

In other words, there was a fairly strong negative reaction to it.

How could you use this in a business situation, Skip?

Well, imagine the management at the company you work for. Suddenly changes the working conditions. For example, they change the working hours from 9 AM to 5 PM every day to 8 AM to 6 PM with a two hour break in the afternoon. I would imagine there would be a lot of backlash from the employees.

Especially if they didn't consult the union or workers association before making that decision. What is our next word?

Next is the verb to backfire. When you say that something you did backfired, you are communicating that it did not have the result you intended.

In fact, the result was almost the opposite of what you were expecting.

In our report today, when I told Samantha that the Me Too movement was calling for a boycott of Gillette products, she commented that it seemed like the ad had backfired. In other words, the result of the campaign was not what Gillette had intended.

But by the end of the report, I learned that perhaps the ad had not backfired. In fact, Gillette may have grown their consumer base through it.

Can you give us another example of backfire Samantha?

Sure, I was recently reading about how the trend in retail stores to go cashless has been backfiring in some areas of the world.

You mean how many stores are no longer accepting cash for payment, only credit cards or other e money solutions?

Yes, on the surface, it seems efficient, but studies out of the UK indicate that it is backfiring for older people and consumers who don't have access to credit cards.

Is that right? I know that Philadelphia has recently become the first city in the United States to ban cashless stores. Maybe they had read that UK study.

That could be.

What's our next word?

Next is an idiomatic use of the noun take. Everyone knows the verb to take, but in the story I explained that this ad was to let's take on the Me Too movement.

You did. And what exactly did you mean by that?

Well, the noun take comes from the film industry. When they are shooting a film, they usually film each scene several times to get the exact performance the director is looking for. Each of those are referred to as a take, take one, take two, take three, and so on. Each take is a slightly different interpretation of the same material.

Ah, then when the director is in the editing room, he or she can choose material from different takes and edit them together in the perfect performance.

That is right. So when I said that this ad was Gillette's take on the Me Too movement, I was saying that it was Gillette's interpretation of the movement.

So if you want to ask someone for their interpretation or opinion on something, you can ask. So what's your take on this issue?

That would be a very professional question to ask. Skip, what's your take on the Me Too movement?

My take would be that I'm very happy to see it taking place.

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Thank you, Samantha. It was once again very nice speaking with you today.

To skip, as always. Hopefully it won't be too long until the next time we record a story together.

Yes, hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. That's my plan, anyways.

Well I hope it doesn't backfire on you.

I don't want to cause any backlash from angry listeners who are patiently For the next episode of

No, you certainly don't want that.

So off to the editing room I go. Thanks for listening again.

Next time.

Have a comment or question about today's show? So be sure to be able to do that.

page and post any comments or questions there. Skip, Des or Samatbe will be sure to leave a reply.

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