Instead of correcting the internet when one of the most recognisable names in skincare suddenly became Baseline, Vaseline did the opposite. It embraced the new version of its own name and let the audience see how far it could go.
On its UK Instagram account, the brand published an “official statement” announcing a name change to Baseline. According to the post, the decision was made after an “extensive review”, meaning watching one viral video more than a million times. The product itself, of course, did not change. Only the first letter did.
The video that started the whole story was posted by Korean beauty influencer Min Day Lee, who was showing her collection of Vaseline products while pronouncing the brand name as Baseline. The way she said the name very quickly became more interesting than the products she was showing.
Lee later explained that the pronunciation was related to the Korean language, which does not have a direct equivalent of the English “V” sound, meaning it can sound closer to the letter “B”.
Pogledajte ovu objavu na Instagramu.
The internet, however, did not stop at Baseline. The original pronunciation began appearing in memes, remixes and new videos, while different interpretations also produced versions such as Bassline and Basseline. What started within beauty content spread to a much wider circle of users and creators.
Vaseline joined in only after the audience had already built its own version of the story.
The brand’s Indian account began using the language that had emerged around the viral moment, including the message “We gave you Vaseline. You gave us Basseline. No notes.” The next step was turning the spontaneous joke into a format in which other users could participate.
Under the #VaselineHijacked hashtag, audiences were invited to create their own interpretations of the trend, tag @vaselineindia and earn the chance to be recognised as one of the Vaseline-Verified Hijack Icons. Min Day Lee is among the creators who have already received the title from the brand.
The UK communication took a somewhat different direction. There, Vaseline connected the temporary switch to Baseline with the fact that the product name has been pronounced and adapted in different ways around the world throughout its long history. Lee was also jokingly given the title “CEO of Baseline”, without having to attend a job interview.
For Hindustan Unilever, the company behind the brand in the Indian market, the fact that the idea did not come from a marketing brief is precisely what gives this case its value.
“We didn’t create this moment; the internet did. Our job was simply to show up,” said Pratik Ved, VP Skincare at Hindustan Unilever, adding that the way people reinterpreted the brand shows what can happen when audiences take over the brand conversation themselves.
That sentence effectively captures the entire logic behind #VaselineHijacked. The campaign did not try to retroactively present the viral moment as something the brand had created. Instead, Vaseline formalised what was already happening, gave creators an official place within its own communication and temporarily adapted its identity to a joke it did not control.
