Meeting consumer needs
As one of the world's leading consumer goods companies, we use many forms of brand communication. Advertising helps inform people about the benefits of our products and innovations. It is also a way for us to engage with consumers on issues that matter to them. Dove's successful Campaign for Real Beauty broke current stereotypes about beauty. Omo/Persil's 'Dirt is good' campaign emphasises the importance for children of feeling free to play outdoors as part of their learning and development.
At the same time we recognise the influence of marketing and advertising on consumers and take our responsibilities seriously. We have a set of Food and Beverage Marketing Principles to guide our approach to advertising our foods. We do not advertise to children under six years of age. We recently extended this commitment to restrict marketing to children between the ages of 6 and 12, for all products except those that qualify for our Choices stamp.
Advertising & promotions 2002 – 2006
*Unilever adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) with effect from 1 January 2005, with a transition date of 1 January 2004. This chart shows 2004 as IFRS and pre-IFRS to allow comparison with previous years.
Accessibility & affordability
We continue to seek new ways of bringing our products within the reach of people of all income levels. One way we have done this is by offering our products in small, low-cost packs. This makes them more affordable for consumers on limited incomes and those with only small amounts of cash
to spend daily.
For example, our 30g pack of Pepsodent toothpaste in India – enough for a family of five to clean their teeth once a day for ten days – costs just six rupees (around €0.11). Six rupees is also what three eggs would cost locally. The chart below compares the cost of toothpaste with a common staple food – eggs – as an illustration of affordability.
Cost of toothpaste in four countries 2006
Consumer safety
Consumers trust us to provide them and their families with products that are safe for their intended use. Safety is always considered at the design stage of a new product or process. Safety approval decisions are made through our Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC), which handles over 10 000 approvals a year.
Incidents can occur if we accidentally release a product to the market that does not conform to the standards applicable to the product. Examples can include quality defects, contamination of raw materials or mislabelling of ingredients. Globally, in 2006 we had 12 public recalls because of a deviation in quality or a potential risk to public health (compared to 8 in 2005). All incidents were successfully managed, risk reduction measures taken and follow-up actions carried out to prevent future occurrence.
We recognise that consumers may be concerned about the use of certain chemicals in products. We continue to work with research organisations, industry partners, NGOs and regulators towards enhancing consumer confidence in chemicals, while trying to find alternatives, where appropriate. (See Civic engagement for REACH legislation.)
Alternatives to animal testing
We are committed to eliminating animal testing for our business and the vast majority of our products reach consumers without testing any material on animals. Our strict internal control procedures ensure that animal testing is carried out only when there is no alternative approach.
We are spending nearly €3 million a year on developing new ways of assuring consumer safety that do not involve animal testing. We are also founding partners of the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing, which last year agreed an ambitious action plan to take forward its work on developing new approaches to safety testing.
