The New Dark Age

7 August 2015 — 38 Degrees

It’s working! After thousands of 38 Degrees members contacted Unilever about their devastating toxic mercury spill in India, the company’s CEO just tweeted that he is ‘Determined to solve fast.’ [1] We’re making him feel the heat in public.

But he hasn’t yet promised to pay proper compensation to the families affected so they can rebuild their lives. Please can you tweet him directly to pile on the pressure?

Dear William,

They dumped tons of toxic waste, devastated an entire town and poisoned thousands of their own workers. That’s Unilever: a huge UK corporation that makes billions of pounds in profit. But they aren’t paying up for a massive toxic mercury leak they caused in the Indian town of Kodaikanal. [2]

You might not have heard of Unilever, but you’ve probably used their products. From a mug of PG Tips tea, to Marmite on toast, to Dove soap, they own some of the most popular brands in the country. [3]

But if thousands of their customers in the UK get involved (us!), we can shift Unilever to pay proper compensation. Unilever care about their reputation. They invest thousands of pounds trying to look good on social media, with an army of staff dedicated to looking after their Facebook and Twitter pages.

So if we get together in our thousands and target their brands in public – on their Facebook page – we can force them to respond. Will you join in? Click here to leave a quick comment on a Unilever Facebook page and ask them to clean up their toxic waste:
 

Local residents, ex-workers from the factory and campaigners across India are calling out Unilever for poisoning thousands of men, women and children. Without proper compensation from Unilever, families are still struggling to rebuild their lives. [4]

So now it’s time to pile the pressure on to Unilever – and that’s where 38 Degrees members come in. We’re the customers who buy Unilever products – we’re the ones Unilever spend millions on advertising to. So if they’re going to listen to anyone, they’ll listen to us.

Unilever are hoping that the fuss dies down. But they have a huge public presence in the UK. They own brands worth millions of pounds. So if we take to their Facebook pages – where they are spending those millions on spin and advertising – we could convince them to do the right thing.

Will you join in and demand Unilever cleans up their mess? It takes just two minutes to add your comment to their public Facebook page:
 

Thanks for being involved,

Bex, Nat, Laura and the 38 Degrees team

NOTES
[1] Twitter: Paul Polman:
https://twitter.com/PaulPolman/status/629373407910567936
[2] The New York Times: Indian Rapper Calls Out Unilever to a Nicki Minaj Beat:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/world/asia/indian-rapper-calls-out-unilever-to-a-nicki-minaj-beat.html
[3] Unilever: View our brands:
http://www.unilever.co.uk/brands-in-action/view-brands.aspx
[4] Jhatkaa: Unilever – take responsibility for Kodaikanal mercury poisoning:
https://www.jhatkaa.org/unilever/