Unilever, P&G Battle Over Sustainablity Claims

Interesting story from AdAge on the ongoing battle between consumer products giants Unilever and Procter & Gamble over which company is more ethically/socially responsible.

Readers of Sustainable is Good know this ongoing race for which company can claim they're more sustainable has touched the world of packaging.

Most notably the concentration of liquid laundry detergents.  Unilever's All Small & Mighty started the wave of mainstream downsizing followed shortly thereafter by P&G's Tide brand. 

Since the initial roll out of the new formulations and packaging the improvements have trickled down through both companies other brands.  The transition has been helped by a major commitment to the cause from the largest US retailer Wal-Mart.

As we reported Method really started the concentrated laundry detergent craze for mainstream products when it rolled out a concentrated detergent back in 2005 more than a year before Small & Mighty.  If Method's market share was anywhere near Unilever's or P&G's the impact of its forward thinking move would be viewed as more significant.

Packaging plays a critical role for many products and brands Unilever and P&G each produce.  Packaging provides companies with space to sell their product to consumers so while reducing packaging is a good environmental sell its a tough sell to brand managers of mainstream consumer products.

Comments

[Trivia Mania]

Regardless of which brand it is, plastic is bad. How about venturing into some more eco-friendly forms of packaging, i.e corn based?

[Gone Green]

OK, so the bottle's smaller, so there's less weight to cart around, less cost and pollution when distributing etc But what about the stuff in the bottle? Is that eco-friendly? Are "All" and "Tide" good for the environment by themselves? Are they made entirely from plant-based ingredients, what is their make-up of non-ionic surfactants?

We want green wash not greenwash :)

[Julian Lee]

The battle has only just kicked off here in Australia with the launch of the Small & Mighy brand for Omo - Unilever's primary brand here in Australia. Two days after launching the brand and its environmental benefits, you know the drill, 12 million plastic bags amd 6.5 m sheets of carboard saved and 62% fewer truck journeys, Unilever went on the bandwagon. Its chief executive called on the rest of Corporate Australia to clean up their act on greenwashing. Needless to say they were none too happy when my newspaper pointed out that they were resisting bringing in powders free of phosphates and sodiums because they risked their performance being comrpomised, even when they had such products on sale around the world.

[Hidayat]

Serious doubts have been raised about Unilever’s claims regarding its socially and environmentally sustainable supply chain. A recent expose of appalling working conditions in Unilever factories in Pakistan raises doubts about one of company’s biggest global brands, Lipton. Human rights violations and the applling working conditions of its employees in Pakistan threatens a public backlash. Lipton is one the global brands in Unilever’s socalled billion-dollar brands portfolio.
For more information, visit: http://www.iuf.org/casualtea/