What happens when a brand turns a stereotype into a solution?

Created by Leo Singapore, the campaign stars Chris Okagbue, an actor and real prince from the Onitsha Kingdom. The connection is immediately understandable. For decades, the infamous “Nigerian prince” scam has associated the country with fake identities and online fraud. Vaseline takes that familiar reference and flips the perspective: this prince is real, while the Vaseline product in front of you might not be.

Reclaiming the story

Building a campaign around such a loaded stereotype requires a degree of confidence, particularly when that stereotype has often reduced Nigeria to the punchline.

Rather than ignoring this history, the campaign gives Okagbue control of the reference who uses humour to push its meaning. What begins as a joke about authenticity gradually becomes a way of talking about trust between a brand and its consumers. It also expands what cultural relevance can look like in advertising. Nigerian culture does not only appear through music, fashion, language or tradition; shared jokes, internet history and uncomfortable references can also provide powerful material when brands understand the context behind them.

From storytelling to a solution

The storytelling is tied directly to the business problem Vaseline is trying to solve. Instead of simply warning consumers about counterfeit products, the brand introduced a free authentication tool through WhatsApp, allowing people to send images of their Body Oil and check whether it is genuine.

Choosing WhatsApp makes the solution particularly practical because it fits into an existing consumer behaviour rather than asking people to download another app or learn a new process. More importantly, the technology feels like a continuation of the campaign rather than a separate feature. That consistency is one of the campaign’s strengths. The stereotype earns attention, the storytelling reframes it and the technology gives the idea a practical purpose. Each part does a different job while reinforcing the same creative thought.

What brands can take from it

A Real Nigerian Prince is a reminder that cultural relevance does not always require brands to reach for the most obvious expressions of a market’s identity. Strong ideas can also come from the references people recognise, laugh about or have learned to live with, provided the brand understands what it is handling and has a reason for using it.

For Vaseline, that reason is clear. A stereotype about authenticity becomes a way into a genuine question of consumer trust, while a simple piece of technology turns the story into something people can use.

The campaign ultimately shows what can happen when cultural confidence, brand storytelling and innovation work together. Vaseline does not simply reclaim a familiar joke; it gives it a new function, transforming an uncomfortable stereotype into a creative route towards solving a real problem.

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Credits :

Brand: Vaseline
Shazan Zahir - Head of Beauty & Wellbeing, Unilever International
Anirban Mullick - Head of Sales Africa, Unilever International
Ibidare Adegunle - Business Development Manager, Unilever International - Nigeria
Xingyun Tan - Assistant Brand Manager, Unilever International
Janson Tan - Marketing, Unilever International

Creative Agency: Leo Singapore
Chief Creative Officer: Ajay Vikram
Group Executive Creative Director: Asheen Naidu
Creative Technologist: Sergey Mast
Creative Director: Boston Ho, Eugene Yow
Head of Integrated Creative & Production Services: Bettina Feng
Senior Integrated Producer: Isabelle Lee
Client Partner: Melissa Tee
Group Planning Director: Valerie Wang
Lead PR Partner: MSL Singapore, Alicia Thong - General Manager
Supporting PR Partner (Intl): Persuasion Communications
Supporting PR PR Partner (Nigeria): Quadrant MSL
Media Partner: All Seasons Zenith
Supporting Agency: Publicis West Africa

Production Company: Ama Psalmist Visuals, Prodigious
Production House: AMA PSALMIST VISUALS
Head of Production/Producer: Michael ‘AMA Psalmist’ Akinrogunde
Co-Producer: Abraham Christiana
Director: Ibidunni Oladayo
Photographer: Ryan Alabi
Director of Photography: Granville Wilson
Production Designer: Chris Udomi
Assistant Director: Fasunhan Oluwatosin
Post Production: Amos Tan, Jackson Toh, Prodigious
Colourist: Kyle Stroebel
Audio Post: FVSE