Vaseline renames itself “Baseline” after a mispronunciation goes viral

Vaseline has leaned all the way into a mispronunciation, rebranding itself “Baseline” after beauty creator Min Day Lee’s viral video calling it exactly that racked up more than two million views on Instagram.

The skincare brand’s response, a full mock rebrand rolled out across its own social channels, is a great case study in reactive marketing played at internet speed.

Lee’s original video, a rundown of her Vaseline collection, spread because of the accidental rhyme rather than the content itself, with users remixing the clip and repeating “Baseline” until it became a meme in its own right.

Vaseline’s social team turned that around within days: a new logo, mocked-up product packaging, and a statement that leaned all the way into the joke.

“We heard you. We agreed,” the brand wrote, adding that “following extensive review (by which we mean approximately one video, watched over 1 million times, facts) Vaseline would like to announce our rebrand. Welcome to Baseline, effective immediately.”

“Full credit to mindaylee for the discovery, who we have taken the liberty of appointing as the CEO of Baseline, effective immediately, no interview required,” the brand said.

It’s not the first time Vaseline’s marketing team have been happy to hand creative control to its audience, following Vaseline Originals, the platform through which the brand turns viral beauty hacks into real products with their creators credited and paid.

Other brands have found the same instinct pays off: Chupa Chups’ “final boss” lollipop stunt likewise took language consumers were already using, in that case wrapper complaints, and built a campaign straight out of it.

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