[B&T warns this article contains adult themes.] A social media campaign by petroleum jelly brand Vaseline has gone viral due to its sexually ambiguous and possibly hilarious messaging.
On Monday the brand posted a meme to Twitter that featured two donuts side-by-side, one glazed and the other not, with the messaging, “Before slugging. After slugging.”
The donuts looked very similar to a part of the human anatomy and the glaze play soon had millions of people Googling to see what sort of deviant sexual practice slugging was.
Well, before you immediately jump to any conclusion that it involves the rectum, it is, in fact, a new Korean beauty trend that sees people covering their faces in a thin layer of an occlusive agent – like Vaseline – before going to bed at night for brighter, shinier skin.
Apparently, none other than Hailey Bieber is a massive slugging aficionado and the practice has become all the rage with the Gen Z crowd.
Vaseline’s apparent double entendre has so far garnered more than 5.5 million views on Twitter.
That glazed glow that only slugging can create. ✨ All you need is Vaseline Healing Jelly. #Vaseline #Slugging pic.twitter.com/QHy2HHW0or
— Vaseline (@VaselineBrand) July 10, 2023
As was probably intended, people are now suggesting the ad has a wholly more salacious message in it, inferring Vaselining the anus for sexual intercourse. As one person pointed out in the tweet below:
When pressed about the ad’s apparent hidden and far more raunchy messaging, Vaseline tweeted in response: “Y’all, we were talking about skincare. Thanks for making this weird.”
And weird it soon became. Social media users soon piling in on the joke/double entendre.
“This is all too much for me,” “Good lord 😳,” and “WTF is slugging?” Others took a more lighthearted approach, injecting humour into the situation: “Vaseline Needs Jesus” and “Who approved this?”
Still, Vaseline is managing to ride the wave and the once dowdy brand and is having new life breathed into it via a host of beauty bloggers and influencers espousing the slugging trend. And if Hailey Bieber’s doing it, then you know you’re on a winner.
