‘Ungliyon ko saaf corona’ — Dettol, Lifebuoy’s hand wash challenge gets record TikTok views

Hygiene brands Dettol and Lifebuoy's handwashing campaigns on TikTok have garnered 24.3 billion and 5.3 billion views respectively.

Lifebuoy and Dettol's handwashing challenge on the TikTok app

New Delhi: Hygiene brands Dettol and Lifebuoy’s handwashing campaigns on TikTok have so far garnered 24.3 billion and 5.3 billion views respectively.

Several users of the video app have uploaded short demonstrations of ways to thoroughly wash one’s hands, including in between fingers and around thumbs, with catchy jingles in the background.

Both hygiene brands had recently launched social media challenges on TikTok to raise awareness about washing hands for 20 seconds — a preventive measure recommended by the World Health Organization to curb the spread of coronavirus.

More than 700 cases of coronavirus have been reported in India and 17 deaths as of Friday.

Dettol’s #HandWashing challenge

Reckitt Benckiser-owned Dettol launched the #HandWashChallenge on 14 March as part of an initiative with TikTok to spread awareness about washing hands.

The challenge garnered 18 billion views within its first week and generated over 123K user participation videos.

When a user participates in the challenge, she or he will have to follow a four-step process — “rub palms together”, “rub fingers and thumbs”, “rub nails on palms” and “rub the back of hands”.

Social media influencers like @riyaz.14, who has a following of 33.2 million, also took part in Dettol and Lifebuoy’s handwashing challenge.

Riyaz’s participation in the Lifebuoy challenge has 1.4 million views and another 6.5 million has seen his Dettol challenge video.

Some users have also taken the challenge a notch higher. A user who goes by the name Hydroman and has around 5 million followers performed the handwashing challenge with his signature ‘underwater‘ effect.

#LifebuoyKarona challenge

The #LifebuoyKarona challenge with the tagline “wash your hands like a boss. spread the word, not germs”, is a similar handwashing demonstration to a 20-second jingle.

The short tune includes lyrics like “ungliyon ko kone kone se saaf corona” (clean in between your fingers) and has a striking resemblance to the song “apna time ayega” from the 2019 hit Gully Boy.

TikTok influencer Awez Darbar, who has over 23,300 followers, participated in the challenge Wednesday. His video has garnered around 763,000 views.

Influencer trio Bhavin Bhanushali, Sameeksha Sud and Vishal Pandey, who run the ‘Teen Tigada channel’ on TikTok, have also popularised the challenge.

“This is the time we want to create responsible content. We have recently created awareness videos #LifebuoyKarona in collaboration with Lifebuoy. We aim to create as much awareness on the need of washing hands regularly as possible and urge people to come together to fight the current crisis,” they have been quoted as saying.

As in the Dettol challenge, many users have added their creative bits while taking the Lifebuoy demonstration too.

A video uploaded by @nidhimishra has made handwashing into a ‘father-son’ challenge. A man can be seen dancing with his toddler while washing his hands.

Another user participated in the challenge by promoting the Santoor brand of soap, Lifebuoy’s competitor.

Instead of handwashing or dancing, user @rs.vlogs decided to participate in the challenge by arranging a line of Lifebuoy packets and knocking them over like dominoes.