marketing, food and consumers
Responding to consumer concerns
We are always looking ahead to identify issues that may have an impact on us and in the communities where we live and do business. We engage with a broad range of stakeholders and work hard to understand their views and expectations of us so that our decisions are based firmly on knowledge and sound science. At Cadbury Schweppes we are committed to acting responsibly, living our values and caring for our consumers.
Food and drink
We operate in an ever changing and increasingly complex food environment.
In its Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO) calls for governments, business and other stakeholders to work together to promote healthier diets, nutrition and exercise. This Global Strategy, released in 2004, has these recommendations for the food and drink industries:
- Promote healthy diets and physical activity
- Limit the levels of saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and salt in existing products
- Continue to develop and provide affordable, healthy and nutritious choices
- Consider introducing new products with better nutritional value
- Provide consumers with adequate and understandable product and nutrition information
- Practise responsible marketing
- Issue simple, clear and consistent food labels, evidence-based health claims
- Provide information on food composition
- Support physical activity programmes
- Provide workplace intervention on health and wellbeing
We endorse this strategy and are working with the WHO and other stakeholders to develop solutions.
Over the past few years there has been intense effort and enquiry from scientists, psychologists, nutritionists and other experts around the issue of obesity. This has been from both within the food industry itself and from outside. What has become clear is that obesity is caused by a combination of factors that include inherited genetic profiles, emotional and psychological issues, lack of physical activity and changing lifestyles, as well as food choice. It is against this backdrop that we are concentrating our efforts.
Within the overall context of our business as a global manufacturer of confectionery and beverages, our specific goal is to contribute to consumer diet, health and lifestyle solutions through product choice and supporting programmes. We have already begun to introduce alternative products with lower fat, sugar and salt options, and are committed to making sure we have such alternatives for every one of our core brands by 2010.
We have created a consumer education campaign in the UK called Be treatwise.
Gum disposal – brand led CSR on responsible disposal
Gum litter is an issue in many markets and is leading to growing concern among consumers and governments. Although we recognise that people are responsible for the disposal of their own litter, we emphasise the need to educate the consumer about responsible disposal. We have introduced a gum disposal message on all our packaging, including advertising and point of sale material as a means of supporting consumer education about responsible disposal.
