Earn vouchers for Unilever products, or make charitable donations for free.
View Good Do Good (“VGDG”) is a website owned by the manufacturing giant Unilever, where users gain rewards for watching Unilever-branded videos on a range of different subjects, most orientated towards the subject of the environment and sustainability, and how Unilever is working to have a more positive impact on climate change and sustainability within the food system and new ways and efforts which reduces the companies environmental footprint.
How it works is that a user watches a video via the website, which is usually no longer than 30 seconds, and in return, they'll be rewarded with 25p to put in their VGDC money pot. Once a user has over £1 in the pot, they can then do one or two things:
1. The user can choose to send that money to a partner of the brand featured in the video. These partners are normally charitable organisations, and the donation is put towards good causes. At the time of writing this blog post, the organisations that could benefit from the donation were:
Fareshare - FareShare is the UK’s largest charity fighting hunger and tackling food waste.
100Weeks - Charity giving people weekly cash donations for 100 weeks with no strings attached, allowing them to lift their families out of extreme poverty for good.
Future Foundations - Training programmes and experiences for young people between the ages of 7 and 24 globally and for teachers and adults who want to inspire the next generation.
Fashion Takes Action - Fashion Takes Action (FTA) is a non-profit organisation established in 2007 to advance sustainability in the entire fashion system through education, awareness, research and collaboration.
Save The Children - Well know charity working to make lives better and safer for children worldwide, such as having easier access to good quality drinking water and helping improve children's global health and social problems.
2. Users can choose to cash out their money pot through digital coupons for Unilever products. Most coupons are worth £1 and can be used in supermarkets and retail stores as part payment towards the product on the coupon. Once you have claimed a digital coupon, it will automatically be sent to your phone by text using the number you created your account with. You will have 14 days to claim your cash coupons.
The vouchers can be used on whichever of the brand's products are being focused on at the time. As I write this, vouchers are available for products, including Magnum ice creams, Hellman's mayonnaise, Persil or Comfort laundry products and carte D'Or ice cream, all valued at £1 each.
The more videos you watch, the more you can add to your cash pot, although there isn't an infinite number of videos available and new ones don't come onto the site all that often. You'll often find new videos on the website at similar times to when Unilever has a new product they can shout about via their social media platforms, so it's worth making sure you follow them. Also, opt into marketing emails, and you'll then be sent an email when a new video has been uploaded to the site to watch and for you to earn money to put into your money pot.
I tend to donate some of my pot, and then anything that we buy as a family that there is a coupon for, I'll grab, such as the magnum ice creams, as that does help towards our food budget, especially when it more of a luxury item, that we can't always justify paying full price for, so that's helpful, especially when all we seem to get are price increases these days!
It's a decent enough idea; Unilever gets to shout out about their sustainability wins, charities and organisations get financial help to give people a good life, and families get to save some money on their grocery shop! The videos aren't long; some are as little as 15 seconds long, so it won't take up much of your spare time, so it's a nice and easy system to get involved in.
If you want to take part, which you can do from the comfort of your armchair in your living room, then you can sign up for the service on the View Good Do Good website. You'll need to accept the usual, necessary cookies (not the eating kind, sadly) and then sign up using your name, email address and phone number. The phone number is needed as this will be the phone number they text your digital coupons to, so don't put in a fake number! Once you've been sent an email to activate your account, you set up a password, and you can log in whenever you want.
As I write this, you'll be given a £1 sign-up bonus to get you started once you've watched your first 25p video, which is usually offered immediately, so you'll have enough to make your first donation or grab your first coupon immediately.
