Drought is a growing problem in parts of the United States, starting with California. It is no coincidence, therefore, that last spring a well-known cosmetic company, Neutrogena, launched the #WipeForWater campaign, relying precisely on the need to save water. A green stance or a clever marketing move?
La drought it is a problem that is becoming more and more serious in some areas of the United States, starting with California. It is no coincidence, therefore, that last spring a well-known cosmetic company, Neutrogena, has launched the #WipeForWater campaign, relying precisely on the need to save water. A green stance or a clever marketing move?
The campaign #WipeForWater calls on the US public, and especially women, to change their daily routines, giving up to the habit of washing your face and replacing the water with make-up remover and detergent wipes. According to the company, in fact, these wipes would allow you to clean the skin of the face in a natural way, saving almost 19 liters of water per day (which would correspond to the amount used daily by an American to wash his face).
To complement the water saving campaign, Neutrogena has formally committed to making donations to the environmental organization Nature Conservancy, with which it started a partnership in 2012 and which in turn declared that it has already received from the company, overall, over 300 thousand dollars.
The campaign #WiperForWater has had as testimonial some well-known faces of the show, including Kristin Bell (famous for the television series Veronica Mars and for having given voice to one of the protagonists of the Disney animated film Frozen), who in one commercial undertakes to clean their face using only Neutrogena wipes for seven days, thus saving over 132 liters of water ...
If raising public awareness on the issue of water saving seems sacrosanct (it is, after all, the small daily behaviors of each of us, if added together, make the difference), Neutrogena's campaign appears somewhat instrumental.
Firstly, are there really so many (19) liters of water that you use daily to wash your face? And even if it were so, why not invite public opinion to moderate, to consume less water in all daily situations, rather than suggesting to replace running water with a towel, which will subsequently be disposed of as waste and which therefore has its own environmental cost?
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Especially since, according to statistics, most of the water waste in the United States arises from activities that take place outside the home, like watering lawns and gardens. Are we sure avoiding rubbing your face with a little water before bed will significantly help combat drought, as the commercial suggests?
Furthermore, it must be remembered that a wipe ensures a rather superficial level of cleansing of the skin, which cannot compete with what you get from washing. The towel in question, then, is part of a line of products that prides itself on being natural: incidentally, however, in 2013, Neutrogena was called into action by a class action, and had to admit that the Neutrogena Naturals line contained petrolatum and other substances that had very little "natural" ...
Certainly the #WipeForWater campaign proved to be a very profitable marketing choice for the company: thanks to the commercials and the involvement of social networks, Neutrogena has made a name for itself and has obtained, in the last six months, a huge amount of free advertising. But, precisely, we are talking about marketing, not sustainability.
If indeed suggest moderate water consumption helps educate people, or at least to make them aware of the existence of a problem, the way in which you decide to clean your face in the evening does not really seem the key to solving it.
Lisa Vagnozzi
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