Unilever capitalises on Vaseline’s viral TikTok popularity

As a product discovered more than 150 years ago ona Pennsylvania oilfield, the humble pot of Vaseline may not seem like an obvious target for social media algorithms.

- Michael Savage Media editor

Yet the brand’s emergence asa Tik-Tok talking point has placed it at the forefront of an advertising revolution, in which large companies are spending big oncontent creatorsand putting fewerresources into promoting products in traditional media.

The petroleum jelly was first manufactured in the 1870s by a chemist, Robert Chesebrough, whonoticed oil rig workers rubbing their skin with a byproduct of the drilling process. Today, aspree of user-generated videos have documented the product’s widespread use in “life hacks”. Ithas been touted as a remedy for cleaning shoes or prolonging the scent of perfume, as well asa fix for squeaky doors. It has even been deployed to stop the scourge of crisp flavouring sticking to fingers.