Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble headquarters
Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G, NYSE: PG) is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio[2] that manufactures a wide range ofconsumer goods. It is 6th in Fortune’s Most Admired Companies 2010 list.[3] P&G is credited with many business innovations including brand management and the soap opera.
According to the Nielsen Company, in 2007 P&G spent more on U.S. advertising than any other company; the $2.62 billion spent by P&G is almost twice as much as that spent by General Motors, the next company on the Nielsen list.[4] P&G was named 2008 Advertiser of the Year by Cannes International Advertising Festival.[5]
Procter & Gamble is a leading member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a Washington D.C.-based coalition of over 400 major companies and NGOs that advocates for a larger International Affairs Budget, which funds American diplomatic and development efforts abroad.[6]
Contents[hide]
|
History
Procter & Gamble was founded in 1837 by William Procter, a British citizen who emigrated to the United States, and James Gamble, a U.S.-based Irish soapmaker and industrialist. The company first sold candles.[7]
Operations
As of July 1, 2007, the company’s operations are categorized into three “Global Business Units” with each Global Business Unit divided into “Business Segments” according to the company’s March 2009 earnings release.
- Beauty & Grooming
- Beauty segment
- Grooming segment
- Household Care
- Baby Care and Family Care segment
- Fabric Care and Home Care segment
- Health and Well-Being
- Health Care segment
- Snacks and Pet Care segment
Management and staff
The board of directors of Procter & Gamble currently has thirteen members: Robert A. McDonald, Charles Lee, Ralph Snyderman, M.D.,Margaret Whitman, James McNerney, Johnathan Rodgers, Ernesto Zedillo, Scott Cook, Rajat Gupta, Patricia A. Woertz, and Kenneth Chenault.[8]
In October 2008, P&G was named one of “Canada’s Top 100 Employers” by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean’snewsmagazine. Later that month, P&G was also named one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers, which was announced by the Toronto Starnewspaper.[9]
Brands
Main article: List of Procter & Gamble brands
23 of P&G’s brands have more than a billion dollars in net annual sales,[10] and another 18 have sales between $500 million and $1 billion.
Billion dollar brands
- Ace is a brand of laundry detergent/liquid available in numerous forms and scents.
- Ariel is a brand of laundry detergent/liquid available in numerous forms and scents.
- Bounty is a brand of paper towel sold in the United States and Canada.
- Braun is a small-appliances manufacturer specializing in electric shavers, epilators, hair care appliances and blenders.
- CoverGirl is a brand of women’s cosmetics.
- Crest is a brand of toothpaste and teeth whitening products.
- Dawn is a brand of dishwashing detergent.[11]
- Downy/Lenor is a brand of fabric softener.
- Duracell is a brand of batteries and flashlights.
- Fusion is a brand of men’s wet shave razors and is the quickest P&G brand to have reached $1 billion in annual sales.
- Gain is a brand of laundry detergent and fabric softeners.
- Gillette is a brand of safety razor and male grooming products.
- Head & Shoulders is a brand of shampoo and conditioners.
- Olay is a brand of women’s skin care products.
- Old Spice is a brand of male grooming products.
- Oral-B is a brand of toothbrush, and oral care products.
- Pampers is a brand of disposable diaper and other baby care products.
- Pantene is a brand of hair care products (conditioners/styling aids).
- Pringles is a brand of potato chips.
- Tide is a brand of laundry detergent.
- Wella is a brand name of hair care products (shampoo, conditioner, styling, and hair color).
- Always/Whisper is a brand of pantyliners sold primarily in Asian markets.
Most of these brands, including Bounty, Crest, Pringles, and Tide, are global products available on several continents. Procter & Gamble products are available in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Manufacturing operations are based in the following regions:
|
Productions
The P&G production logo used from early 1986 to 2007.
Procter & Gamble produced and sponsored the first radio soap operas in the 1930s (Procter & Gamble’s being known for detergents (soaps) was probably the genesis of the term “soap opera”). When the medium switched to television in the 1950s and 1960s, most of the new serials were sponsored and produced by the company. The serial The Young and the Restless is currently broadcast on CBS and is still partially sponsored by Procter & Gamble. If As the World Turns is not picked up by another network, The Young and the Restless, will be the only soap left that is partially sponsored by Procter & Gamble.
These past serials were produced by Procter & Gamble:
|
Procter & Gamble also was the first company to produce and sponsor a prime-time show, a 1965 spinoff of the daytime soap opera As the World Turns called Our Private World. PGP also produced Shirley, a prime-time NBC series starring Shirley Jones, in 1979; it lasted thirteen episodes. They also produced TBS’ first original comedy series, Down to Earth, which ran from 1984 to 1987 (110 episodes were produced). They also distributed the syndicated comedy series Throb. Procter & Gamble Productions originally co-produced Dawson’s Creek with Sony Pictures Television but withdrew before the series premiere due to early press reviews. It also produced the 1991 TV movie A Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story, which was co-produced by The Landsburg Company. It also produces the People’s Choice Awards.
In addition to self-produced items, Procter & Gamble also supports many Spanish-language novellas through advertising on networks such asUnivision, Telemundo, Telefutura, and Azteca America. Procter & Gamble was the one of the first mainstream advertisers on Spanish-language TV during the mid-1980s.[citation needed]
In 2008, P&G expanded into music sponsorship when it joined Island Def Jam to create Tag Records, named after a body spray that P&G acquired from Gillette. In April 2010, after the cancellation of As the World Turns, PGP announced they were officially phasing out of the soap industry, and expanding into more family appropriate programming.[12][13]
Controversies
Logo controversy
P&G’s former logo originated in 1851 as a crude cross that barge workers on the Ohio River painted on cases of P&G star candles to identify them. P&G later altered this symbol into a trademark that showed a man in the moon overlooking 13 stars, said to commemorate the original13 colonies.[14]
Former P&G logo
The company received unwanted media publicity in the 1980s when rumors spread that the moon-and-stars logo was a satanic symbol. The accusation was based on a particular passage in theBible, specifically Revelation 12:1, which states: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars.” P&G’s logo consisted of a man’s face on the moon surrounded by 13 stars, and some claimed that the logo was a mockery of the heavenly symbol alluded to in the aforementioned verse, thus construing the logo to be satanic. Where the flowing beard meets the surrounding circle, three curls were said to be a mirror image of the number 666, or the reflected number of the beast. At the top and bottom, the hair curls in on itself, and was said to be the two horns like those of a lamb that represented the false prophet.
These interpretations have been denied by company officials, and no evidence linking the company to the Church of Satan or any other occult organization has ever been presented. The company unsuccessfully sued Amway from 1995-2003 over rumors forwarded through a company voicemail system in 1995. In 2007 the company successfully sued individual Amway distributors for reviving and propagating the false rumors.[15]
Toxic shock syndrome and tampons
Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a disease caused by strains of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. Most people have these bacteria living in their bodies as harmless commensals in places such as the nose, skin, and vagina. The disease can strike anyone, not only women, but the disease is often associated with tampons. In 1980, 814 menstrual-related TSS cases were reported; 38 deaths resulted from the disease. The majority of women in these cases were documented as using super-absorbent synthetic tampons, particularly the Rely tampon created by Procter & Gamble.[16] The Rely tampon was so super-absorbent that one by itself could in fact hold one woman’s entire menstrual period flow. Unlike other tampons made of cotton and rayon, Rely used carboxymethylcellulose and compressed beads of polyester for absorption. The materials used in Rely were causing an increase in the thickness of fluid inside the vagina, resulting in more toxins being released.
The slogan used by Procter & Gamble for the product was “Rely. It even absorbs the worry.”
In the summer of 1980 the Centers for Disease Control released a report explaining how these bacterial mechanisms were leading to TSS. They also stated that the Rely tampon was associated with TSS more than any other brand of tampon. In September 1980, Procter & Gamble voluntarily recalled its Rely brand of tampons from the market and agreed to provide for a program to notify consumers. Since the 1980s, reported cases of TSS have dramatically decreased.[17]
Other products
In December 2005 the Pharmaceutical division of P&G was involved in a dispute over research involving its osteoporosis drug Actonel. The case was discussed in the media[18] and more recently on a blog[19] of one of the researchers involved.
In October 2007, a class action lawsuit was filed in the State of Georgia alleging that many users of Crest Pro-Health mouthwash suffered stained teeth and loss of their sense of taste as a result.[20] Procter & Gamble contends that these side effects occur in only three percent of users. The suit seeks to include disclosure warning users of these side effects on product packaging.