Food manufacturing giant Unilever has appealed a decision by the Advertising Standards Board which ordered that an advertisement for its Paddle Pop products be taken off air over a claimed breach in the Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative (RCMI). The advertisement for Unilever’s Bubble Gum Berry Lava Paddle Pop and the Hero or Villain Choc Orange Paddle Pop is set in a jungle and a voiceover describes the products. In what is being described by Unilever as a far-reaching precedent, the... ...Read more »

Australia’s largest hunger relief organisation, Foodbank, is to launch a campaign called Bridge the Hunger Divide on Sunday 16 October 2011, to coincide with World Food Day. World Food Day is a United Nations initiative to raise awareness of global food insecurity issues such as hunger and poverty. Foodbank said it will be building a sculpture of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, made almost entirely out of donated food. The Foodbank initiative has been supported by: Aldi, Cerebos, SPC Ardmona, Coles,... ...Read more »

Unilever Australasia has appointed Sydney-based advertising agency Whybin\TBWA to work across the local branding its multi-million dollar ice cream account in Australia. Unilever Australasia is the Australian and New Zealand subsidiary company of Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever. The Australian subidiary owns the Streets Ice-cream brand. Whybin\TBWA will commence work immediately on Unilever’s Magnum, Cornetto and Splice brands. The appointment was made without a pitch. Paul Bradbury, CEO... ...Read more »

Unilever has released a statement encouraging political leaders to take “ambitious steps” to tackle climate change, and rejecting media suggestions that it will oppose the Government’s carbon tax. “Climate change is likely to have a growing impact on our business and we are planning ahead and reshaping our business on the assumption that we will be operating in an environment where there is a price on carbon,” said a release from the company. “Media reports questioning... ...Read more »

Unilever CEO Paul Polman last week outlined the manufacturer’s strategic shift towards emerging markets to take advantage of their rapidly-growing populations. Speaking at the Cannes advertising festival, Polman said that one of the major drivers of change is the shift of economic power to the east and the south. He asked if the current marketing agency model is the right one in “helping brand owners anticipate the needs of the next billion consumers in the fast growing markets of the... ...Read more »

The Consumer Goods Forum has unveiled a new set of industry-wide resolutions designed to promote health and wellness. On the first day of its annual global summit in Barcelona today (15 June), the Forum committed to improving access to healthier products, providing “transparent, fact-based” information to allow consumers to make informed dietary decisions and promoting educational programmes that raise awareness of healthy lifestyles. The collaborative work to promote these resolutions... ...Read more »

Unilever and Ahold have become among the first companies to acquire certificates for sustainable soy.The purchase – made by a number of Dutch companies under the local Initiative for Sustainable Soy (IDS) – was of the first batch of soy certified by the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS). The RTRS was set up in 2006 to draw up criteria for the sustainable cultivation of soy, which is used in animal feed and in a swathe of food products. The companies, which also include dairy processor... ...Read more »

Unilever has confirmed the French launch of a version of its Magnum ice cream that contains alcohol. The new Magnum Minis, which will be released under its Heart Brand ice cream label, are available in two flavours – one with Italian liqueur limoncello and the other with Irish cream. The product comes to market after “very positive trials”, Unilever said. The product is pitched as offering an after-meal gourmet moment with a tinge of alcohol and targets new ice cream customers,... ...Read more »

Unilever has entered into a global partnership with technical services firm Jacobs Engineering in a a bid to increase the efficiency of its capital investments programme worldwide. The consumer goods giant, which operates more than 250 manufacturing sites worldwide, is investing in its production capabilities – primarily in emerging markets – to support its growth agenda. Unilever said that it expects emerging markets to generate 70-75% of its growth in the long term. The tie-up will... ...Read more »

Unilever has been voted as the outright global leader in sustainability, according to the latest survey findings from GlobeScan and SustainAbility. Sustainability experts from across the globe were canvassed as part of the annual SustainAbility survey, with respondents asked to name the companies they consider sustainability leaders; why they think the firm is a leader in sustainable development; and which industries have done the most to advance sustainability in the past year. In a year when commitment... ...Read more »