Sofia Ashraf is back with a follow-up video to pressure Unilever to clean up mercury waste
Sofia Ashraf in a grab from the video
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Sofia Ashraf’s Rap video campaign, Kodaikanal Won’t, against Hindustan Unilever Limited’s Kodaikanal plant last year, spread rapidly on the Internet and the company was eventually forced to pay compensation to the workers.
A glimpse from a rally held against the company featured in the video
The artist, who had then quit a job with a top advertising firm, had taken the popular culture route and made a parody of a Nicky Minaj song because she know that the singer has a huge fan and hate base.
Ashraf is now back with another video as a response to the company’s claim that they have been maligned baselessly.
“Unilever CEO Paul Polman asked us to look at facts, not false emotions, making us sound like some emotional tree huggers with no respect for facts that are untrue. Journalists and researchers have worked meticulously for the campaign,” Ashraf says.
She made this video fact-heavy, which is a risk as far as getting attention on the Internet goes. “I am a great fan of the works of satirist John Oliver and took inspiration from works like his to make it enjoyable too,”âu00c2u0080u00c2u0088she reasons.
In the video, where she partners with Jhatkaa.org, a campaigning organisation committed to building grassroots citizen power, she points out how much of the damage in Kodaikanal still needs to be undone. She mentions that 1.3 tonnes of mercury waste has been dumped in the Pambar Shola reserve forest in Tamil Nadu.
Ashraf says that the company has made no effort to adress the situation. “They have been putting out the same claims for a decade now. It is like speaking in a automated call,” she signs off.
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