Acting responsibly
Millions of people around the world enjoy the food and drinks we create. So the ingredients we use, the formulations, and the way we advertise and market our brands can potentially make a big impact on global health.
We aim to act responsibly and have a strong nutrition policy. We've also developed a carefully considered approach to health and nutrition which includes:
- encouraging a balanced diet with the right amount of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals
- developing a growing range of low fat, low sugar, low calorie alternatives, plus more 'active health' products such as pro.activ
- never promoting over-consumption
- helping people understand the nutritional benefits of our products
- creating products that reflect the fact that people will only eat foods that they enjoy
- recognising that spreads, sauces and mayonnaise can be good sources of vegetable and unsaturated fats, as well as other key nutrients
Clear communication
We've also developed a set of marketing principles to ensure we're always 'honest, decent and truthful' in our communication – which include special principles on advertising to children.
As well as excluding anything that appears to condone over-consumption in our marketing, we also prohibit anything that undermines the promotion of healthy, balanced diets and lifestyles, or misrepresents snacks as meals. We will also make sure that any claims made in our marketing about any of our products are supported by scientific evidence.
Under our principles for marketing to children, we ensure our advertisements don't convey misleading messages, don't undermine parental influence, don't encourage pester power, don't suggest time or price pressure, don't encourage unhealthy dietary habits, and don't blur the boundary between promotion and content.
In addition, as well as supporting the development of international self-regulatory codes for all marketing and advertising, we recently agreed to voluntarily restrict all paid marketing communications (with the exception of packaging) directed primarily at children under the age of six years.
We believe that by putting these principles in place, we're not only doing the right thing, but we're being proactive through voluntary self-regulation – instead of simply reacting to external pressures.
