A House hearing with industry leaders on advertising Wednesday took a bizarre turn when Rep. Michael Rulli (R-OH) demanded to know why the CEO of Unilever wasn't airing more ads for Dove soap.
The hearing was meant to gather evidence for a Republican conspiracy theory that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), a division of the World Economic Forum that works to mitigate harmful digital content, is working to censor conservatives.
Rulli's rant, first flagged by the Heartland Signal, a progressive news outlet, appeared to be trying to make the point that the lack of advertising contradicted Unilever's concern about brand reputation in its decisions to curate what it associates with.
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"My family's owned a grocery store since 1917, we have about 45,000 SKUs of product, I know very well, growing up, my mom favored Dove soap," said Rulli. "I don't think Dove soap has been in my house for over 15 years, we use Irish Spring now. And I was trying to think to myself, when was the last time I saw a Dove soap ad? I have a conservative family, and I look at a lot of different outlets, whether it's online or whether it's TV or radio or everything you can imagine. I haven't heard a Dove soap ad in at least 10 to 15 or 20 years."
"So if I was responsible for my shareholders, and I had to go there and I had to answer to them, if I'm doing the best job possible, for your words, the 'protection of the brand,' you're using these examples of extreme situations where the brand might be associated with a freak situation, versus a normal family, have kids, we never see a Dove soap ad, ever!" he exclaimed.
Ironically, Unilever actually faced controversy just a few years ago over a digital ad that appeared to show one of its products turning a Black woman's skin white. In recent years, Unilever appears to have focused more of its advertising budget on influencer partnerships, including one in which the company recently pledged not to use AI to retouch models.
