Players delete in-game skins with Vaseline to highlight skin donor shortages

Petroleum jelly-based skincare brand Vaseline has partnered popular Thai-based gamers to delete their in-game cosmetic changes to characters or items called 'skins' to raise awareness of the critical scarcity of skin donations.

The campaign, titled, ‘Skins for Skin’, also aims to respond to how Thailand is grappling with the highest burn-related mortality rate in Southeast Asia, according to a statement from the company.

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Done in collaboration with Ogilvy Singapore, ‘Skins for Skin’ has gamers such as Mokuchi and Thames Malerose use only their basic skins to mirror the scarcity faced by burn victims which were noticed by fans during live streams of their playthroughs to spark conversations about the issue.

“It’s no surprise that the topic of skin donations has never been tackled. It’s such a sensitive topic. Gamers, who know the value of skin, have been the perfect platform to launch a donation campaign,” said Nicolas Courant, chief creative officer Ogilvy Singapore.

The campaign also featured a short film that began with an action-packed chase between a video game character and a fire-breathing dragon. As the character crashes through a wall to make her escape, text fills the screen.

In the game, heroes may be able to use special powers such as overcoming obstacles and even fire. However, in real life, victims of burns incidents need skin donations to survive, said the short film in Thai.

To add a call to action to the campaign, limited edition Vaseline jars were released that featured information about the campaign. All proceeds from these jars will be donated to The Thai Red Cross.

“Our campaign demonstrates the effectiveness of ideas that are relevant, evoke a sense of action, and are presented on platforms that resonate with Gen Z,” said Aanchal Sethi, Asia managing director, Unilever, Ogilvy Singapore.

“This approach provides us with the opportunity to leverage their immense influencing power and instigate meaningful change in society,” Sethi further explained.

As Ogilvy Singapore enhances its leadership strategy to create impactful campaigns, it recently promoted Ishita Roy and Frederick Tong as joint heads of strategy, according to the agency in a statement.

They succeed Jason Hill, who has since left the agency, according to a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. Roy and Tong will oversee the Singapore market, reporting to Kunal Jeswani, group CEO for Ogilvy Singapore and Malaysia, and Arvind Srivastava, Asia chief strategy officer.

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