Unilever is helping people make better food choices through responsible marketing.
From the moment we wake up in the morning, we are exposed to hundreds of advertising messages – on our phones, on TV, on advertising hoardings, on product packaging. As the second-largest advertiser in the world based on media spend, Unilever is acting on their duty to ensure that the company’s marketing and advertising is responsible and a force for good, helping to engage with consumers on topics that matter to them.
Unilever is guided by four principles:
- Building trust through responsible practices and transparent communication.
- Ensuring that products are safe and providing provide clear information on their use and any risks that are associated with their use.
- Supporting a consumer’s right to know what is in their products and being transparent about ingredients and nutrition values.
Unilever uses a combination of channels, including product labels, websites, careline phone numbers and/or leaflets to communicate openly with consumers. Marketing messages must be appropriate, must not undermine the promotion of healthy, balanced diets and active lifestyles, or misrepresent snacks as meals. For example, Unilever won’t show over-sized portions or ‘size zero’ actors in their advertising.
Unilever was one of the first companies to apply their own principles to the marketing and advertising of all foods and refreshment. These provide guidance to marketeers and are reviewed regularly, most recently in July 2017. Unilever’s Responsible Marketing Principles make no exceptions and are among the most wide-reaching. They cover all forms of marketing communications, including packaging, point-of-sale and all digital communication channels.
