‘Digital Eavesdropping’: The Consumer Goods Giant Looks to Exploit Vaseline’s TikTok Moment.

First identified more than 150 years ago within a Pennsylvania drilling site, the modest tin of Vaseline might not appear as an clear candidate for social media algorithms.

However, its rise as a viral TikTok topic has placed it at the forefront of an marketing transformation, seeing big businesses allocating substantial funds to content creators and devoting less capital to advertising goods in traditional media.

From Oil Rigs to Online Hacks

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Cheeseborough, who saw laborers rubbing their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Currently, a wave of content from users have documented the product’s widespread use in “life hacks”.

Hailed as a fix for dirty sneakers or extending perfume longevity, and also a remedy for creaky hinges. Users have even applied it to combat the nuisance of snack dust adhering to hands.

Harnessing the Hype

Detecting the product’s new life online, marketers at Unilever amplified the hacks by having their research teams evaluate the claims and providing creators with the outcome data.

Claims that Vaseline reduced the burn from hot food on the lips were confirmed. So too were ideas it could lengthen scent duration and restore leather handbags. Claims that it would brighten smiles or lengthen eyelashes were disproven.

A Plan Built on ‘Social Listening’

Print ads and broadcast spots would once have formed the bulk of its promotional efforts. Yet this viral episode has helped convince executives to ramp up funding for content creators.

This observation of social channels to shape commercial tactics has been labeled “social listening”. Fernando Fernández, freshly instated, has suggested it is aiming to spend half of its colossal advertising budget on platform-based material.

Adapting to New Consumer Habits

Selina Sykes, who is leading the online push, said the company was merely adjusting to novel methods of engaging audiences. She said interacting online “without killing the party” was essential.

“What is the key to genuine brand integration? This remains our core objective as brands, since the era of community gossip and sharing usage tips.

“We are witnessing a departure from a one-to-many model, where we would just broadcast out … Now it’s many conversations, various groups. The shift of the algorithms means that these groups seem specialized, but they’re not.

“Ensuring your product is discussed by users, recommended by peers, this builds credibility and connection. Influencers are vital for this. This word-of-mouth strategy is being amplified.”

A Seismic Media Shift

The strategy reflects profound shifts taking place in media consumption, with Gen Z and millennial audiences spending more time on apps like TikTok and Instagram than legacy broadcast and print media.

This change is evidenced by drops in broadcast and newspaper ads. Across Britain, commercial funding for major broadcasters have fallen by more than £600m in inflation-adjusted terms since 2019.

The Rise of the Creator Economy

This further signifies a blurring of media roles as large companies almost become production houses themselves, linking up with hundreds of content creators to promote their goods.

Leon Harlow said: “Naturally, an exodus of attention out of certain traditional media outlets and their time is increasingly on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube than they are viewing scheduled television or reading physical magazines.

“Numerous corporations inform us consumers have more faith in suggestions from the personalities they subscribe to compared to commercial messages. It's an ongoing shift.”

He noted companies can reduce costs by focusing on influencers over expensive broadcast campaigns, which also enables easier content adjustment to test effectiveness.

This strategy is expanding. Marketing investment on influencer marketing is growing fourfold quicker than total media spending. Across the United States, it has over doubled since 2021 and is expected to hit tens of billions in 2025.

Traditional Media's Continued Place

Despite the huge changes, industry figures said they believed TV advertising still had a prominent role to play, as TV channels continued to possess the influence to shape the national conversation.

Sykes said: “Among the most effective advertising investments is still the Super Bowl. It's not a matter of networks declaring: ‘Oh, we’re not relevant any more.’ The focus is on who seizes focus … I think there’s 100% a place for them.”