Greenpeace versus Mattel: A social media battle over rain forest [UPDATED]
The battle between Mattel, the world’s biggest toy company, and Greenpeace, one of the world’s largest environmental groups, moved into a social media combat phase Wednesday as more than 180,000 people viewed a spoof video of Ken breaking up with Barbie over rain forest destruction. The video, featured on various nations' Greenpeace sites as well as on YouTube, was translated into 18 languages.
The video was part of a sophisticated global campaign mounted against the El Segundo company for allegedly using packaging derived from Indonesian rain forests to wrap its Barbie and Ken dolls and other toys.
Greenpeace, which has 2.8 million members and offices in 41 countries, is counting on social media to carry its message. Its website enables visitors to send a letter to Mattel's CEO and share campaign information on Twitter and Facebook with a few clicks of a mouse.
When activists Tuesday began posting critical messages on Barbie’s Facebook fan page, which has 2.2 million followers, Mattel shut down commenting on the page and deleted any mention of rain forests. No new comments since Monday were visible on the page as of late Wednesday.
On Twitter, as Greenpeace protesters were unfurling a giant banner from the roof of Mattel headquarters, the company tweeted from @BarbieStyle (53,400 followers): “After a 7-year break, I really need to update summer pictures of me and Ken! Collecting seashells on the beach to decorate a picture frame.” Since then: radio silence on a feed that normally features ten or more tweets a day.
Meanwhile, anyone searching for @barbie on Twitter would see such tweets as this one: “Yes, I participated in #Deforestation...how else am I supposed to heat the "Dream House"? #Barbie.”
The @Barbie site is not company-sponsored and had only 1,412 followers as of midday Wednesday. Presumably, it was set up by a fan, or by a spoofer, since posts before the Greenpeace protest were along the lines of: “Every man I date seems to think I'm impressed by fake jewelry.”
However, one spoof site was set up by Greenpeace itself: @ken_talks. Its first tweet was June 1: "Beach. Spa. Poolside cocktails. Just another Malibu weekend coming my way boys and dolls!”
By Tuesday it was tweeting: “Did you know there are only about 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild? Feel a bit sick.”
Indonesian rain forests, which have been decimated for palm oil plantations and pulp and paper operations, are a haven for endangered species including orangutans, tigers, elephants and leopards. The clearing and burning of rain forests worldwide is responsible for an estimated 15% of global emissions of carbon dioxide, which is trapping heat in earth’s atmosphere and causing changes in the climate.
Mattel is the latest target of a decade-long effort by such environmental groups as Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network to persuade multi-nationals to purge their supply chains of any links to forest destruction.
Mattel issued a statement Tuesday, saying, “Playing responsibly has long been an important part of Mattel’s business practices," and criticizing Greenpeace's "inflammatory approach."
[UPDATE: Weds June 8, 9:10 p.m. Late Wednesday evening, Mattel responded more directly to Greenpeace's charge that its packaging includes wood products from Asia Pulp & Paper, a subsidiary of the giant Singapore-based conglomerate Sinar Mas. In a post to its corporate facebook page, it said: "Mattel does not support deforestation nor does it contract directly with Sinar Mas/APP. We purchase packaging materials from a variety of suppliers and it is not the normal course of business to dictate where suppliers source materials.
That said, we have directed our packaging suppliers to stop sourcing pulp from Sinar Mas/APP as we investigate the deforestation allegations. Additionally, we have asked our packaging suppliers to clarify how they are addressing the broader issue in their own supply chains."]
But Turner said that the environmentalists’ campaign will continue until Mattel shows "due diligence" towards a "zero-deforestation" policy. Greenpeace’s China office will shortly send out an email to several million followers, he said.
Early Wednesday, activists hung a giant banner of a frowning Ken doll in London's Piccadilly Circus reading “Barbie, you’re dumped: Girls that threaten furry animals make me sick.” The message was a play on Mattel’s marketing campaign, which has Ken reuniting with Barbie after a breakup.
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-- Margot Roosevelt
I just want world peace. People use Facebook or Twitter to start war. Social Media, aside from using it in business blogs, it can be use to start peace. It's one of the strongest instrument to start spreading a news.
Posted by: m.xzy | June 18, 2011 at 07:33 PM
As of Friday morning @Barbie (which states its a parody account in its headline) has 1,809 followers, an increase of almost 400 from a day and a half ago. While this isn't huge, nearly all of the @Barbie tweets have negative connotations towards Mattel. I suspect Mattel will have to look into a positive pr campaign very soon if it wants to avoid completely negative publicity (especially on social media).
Posted by: Renee | June 10, 2011 at 08:33 AM
Happiness is the thought of greenpeace members in a Turkish prison.
Posted by: Joseph L Cooke | June 09, 2011 at 06:41 PM
I find it interesting that so many people immediately jump on Mattel without asking one simple question. GreenPeace, on what basis do you make these allegations? Do you have any proof?
Mattel states that they do not do business with Sinar Mas/APP, at least not directly. They state that some of their suppliers might, but frankly they do not know, nor do they dictate to their suppliers how to do business. Frankly, they are right in this. They can put out a request for their suppliers not to use Sinar Mas/APP when filling orders for them, but frankly it is not up to Mattel to determine how their suppliers do business.
The reality is that asking them to know who their suppliers are receiving their materials from is like your asking your grocer which farm a particular head of lettuce was grown on.
Posted by: Stephen Rowe | June 09, 2011 at 12:22 PM
I think this is a very smart way Greenpeace is dealing with this. If we want to create transformation that is permanent and effective with dysfunctional and destructive systems, the most effective way is contacting the corporations. There is just too much money and corruption involved in countries like Indonesia to do something from the government side.
Every time you see an injustice being done contact the company and corporation. You have a lot of power with your purse and feedback you give to companies. The response that Mattel did is ignorant and irresponsible. It just gives to show how incredibly unaware they are in regards to sustainability and responsible business practice.
Posted by: Vidura Barrios | June 09, 2011 at 11:07 AM
"We purchase packaging materials from a variety of suppliers and it is not the normal course of business to dictate where suppliers source materials"
Are you kidding me? You can't have it both ways, we're a responsible company, but we don't hold our suppliers accountable? Mattel simply doesn't get it...it's going to be a long bumpy holiday season for this bunch if they don't pull their heads out of their...you expect more from a California outfit. Folks, children care about the wellbeing of animals and the last time I looked...Mattel was in the children business.
Posted by: DB Graves | June 08, 2011 at 10:07 PM