Unilever furthers Lifebuoy handwashing message with film set in Indonesia

Unless you're familiar with Indonesian folklore, it won't be immediately apparent how the film, which revolves around a young woman's relationship with a tree, relates to Unilever's handwashing campaign. 

The film follows up the brand's earlier efforts in the 'Help a child reach 5' initiative, including the award-winning film 'Gondappa' (below), the brand's 'adoption' of a central Indian village and its imprinting of a handwashing message on 2.5 million rotis. 

"It is unacceptable that 1.7 million children die every year from infectious diseases when we have cost effective lifesaving solutions, such as handwashing with soap, readily available," said Samir Singh, global brand VP for Lifebuoy. "We wanted to tell the world the Lifebuoy story in a deeply emotional way and turn the Help A Child Reach 5 campaign into something personal and powerful."

The brand points out in the 'About' section for the video on YouTube that it is "based on inspiration from Indonesian folklore and is not intended as a fact-based representation of the region or its inhabitants." 

The creative agency is Lowe Lintas, while PHD is responsible for global campaign strategy and planning. Mindshare is handling regional campaign execution, and Salt is the global PR agency.