A s reported by Procurement Leaders, the sourcing policies of one of the world’s biggest companies – despite its protestations to the contrary – have been influenced by a well-financed, but highly effective, ‘viral’ marketing campaign by a leading pressure group.

Greenpeace’s objective was to ensure that Unilever checked the environmental credentials of its palm oil suppliers as part of an ongoing campaign to prevent deforestation.

And although Unilever insisted that their rapid about-turn was already under discussion, the move merely serves to illustrate the power of new media such as the internet, and seems to suggest that the more savvy pressure groups are looking beyond the normal means of protest to achieve their aims.

Another high profile company, Marks and Spencer, has also recently felt the wrath of these new ‘viral’ campaigns after the union, Unite, (somewhat unsuccessfully) attempted to use Google AdWords to highlight what it perceived to be poor employment practices within the company’s supply chain.

This particular campaign failed to achieve its aim, but the growth of viral marketing is likely to spread – and, if companies have anything to hide then, like Unilever, they had better be prepared to have their dirty linen washed in public.