SATIRE: This sticker label suggesting that Vaseline Petroleum Jelly can be diluted with water to be used as petrol is doctored
Images published on the product’s website and social media handles do not contain the said instructions on the sticker label.
An image shared on Facebook showing the sticker label on the Vaseline petroleum jelly suggesting that the product can be diluted with water and used as petrol is SATIRICAL.
The image shows the Vaseline Blueseal brand manufactured by Unilever with text on the seal which reads, “Can be diluted with water and used as Petrol.”
The image was shared on 29 March 2022 as Kenyans experienced fuel shortages characterised by long queues at gas stations as motorists scrambled for the commodity.
A reverse image search brings up the Vaseline website showing an image of the product. Close scrutiny of the sticker label shows that there are no such instructions to dilute the product with water and use it as petrol as claimed. This indicates that the image was doctored to include the said instructions.
A similar image published on the Vaseline East Africa Twitter handle also shows that the product does not contain the instructions.
PesaCheck has examined the sticker label on the Vaseline petroleum jelly suggesting that the product can be diluted with water and used as petrol, and finds it to be SATIRICAL.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Simon Muli and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Cédrick Irakoze.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.
