How brands should use more carrot than stick

Social movements are often triggered by an event, an idea, a provocation, a reason to take action, and brands play a big role in this. So we were shocked to read about a school in the UK that had replaced the mirrors in its girls’ toilets with posters about self-esteem and image.

The idea was well-intentioned, being to provoke healthy debate and get senior school children to participate in discursive letter writing, (and to limit dwell time in the loos!) but the execution (being placed in the toilets), the target (young impressionable girls) and the messaging was all wrong.

According to an article in The Times 02.03.23, one read “If all girls starting wearing no make-up and comfortable clothes, guys would have no choice but to fall for girls because of natural beauty”.

Reading the article reminded us of the Dove Self-Esteem project, which has been working tirelessly for years to help young people achieve their full potential by accepting their differences and not judging themselves based on unrealistic media-driven norms. Dove’s evidence-based work supports schools, parents and communities to build self-confidence.

Of course, Dove like many Unilever brands is not alone in provoking a debate, and becoming a force for good. Surf aims to bring delight to the laundry process (which can be very manual in emerging markets), Lux encourages women to embrace their femininity and defy judgement and Vaseline with its healing project, celebrates healthy skin as a right and not a privilege.

Beyond Unilever, Rubies in the Rubble seeks to contribute to Food Waste reduction by using ingredients that would otherwise go to waste. KanKan is trying to normalise a plastic-free refill model for hand soaps and bodywash by replacing plastic with aluminium. Reformation Clothes seek to fix a broken fashion industry by owning their supply chain ‘from Farm to Butt … saving the earth and look damn good doing it’.

So what can we learn from successful about how to encourage our children, and society as the whole to see the world differently, and recognise our privilege, biases or just how inconsiderately we consume?

Messages need to be motivating – and we don’t just mean they need to resonate, they should solve a problem. All of the brands mentioned above focus on a positive outcome (the carrot) rather than a negative outcome (the stick, or in this case toilet posters!).

Benefits need to be tangible – people need to be able to see how they can affect change through participating, and ideally have some kind of feedback loop as to how participation matters.

The brand plays an active central role linking their benefit/products and services to the outcome - there’s no room for ‘brand chat without substance’, people will see right through it and move on.

The purpose is at the heart of the brand and not a bolt on

Does this mean that legacy brands that aren’t built on purpose can’t be a force for good? Absolutely not? Whether it’s Cadburys launching Fruiter and Nuttier in response to new food legislation or Molson Coors launching 0.0% Staropramen in response to an emerging ‘no-and-lo’ market segment, there’s room for everyone to make a positive impact. Just use more carrot than stick! No one likes to look in the mirror and feel bad about themselves!