Storyboard18 | P&G India renews commitments to diversity and inclusion at #WeSeeEqual summit

Sharat Verma, CMO, Procter & Gamble India. (Image: CNBC-TV18)

Procter & Gamble India announced new commitments aimed toward advancing equality and inclusion across India, at its third annual #WeSeeEqual summit.

Built on the theme ‘#Unlearn and #Unleash’, the summit saw P&G India commit to several actions. P&G India will improve the accessibility of its brand advertising, including social media content and websites, by making it accessible to people with vision and hearing impairments by 2024.

“I think by 2024-25 we should have all of our content accessible and inclusive. We are also on a journey to explore more ways and mechanisms to do this for other touchpoints. We have also made early progress; for example, Ariel and Tide are accessible to people with colour blindness. We are also working towards audio descriptions and captions in our advertising commercials,” says Sharat Verma, CMO, Procter & Gamble India.

P&G India also announced that it will sensitize students pursuing advertising and marketing courses on accurate portrayal and representation of women in advertising. For this, P&G will partner with leading marketing and communication colleges to shape the next generation of marketers and advertisers.

“It is important to make equality and inclusion a sustainable part of creativity. There we are committed to make the next generation of marketers drive a holistic change in imagery,” adds Verma.

Last year, P&G committed to spending a total of Rs 300 crore by consciously working with women-owned and women-led businesses in India, from the year 2021 to 2025. With already more than Rs 200 crore invested through this initiative in the first year across India, the company is now elevating this commitment to Rs 500 crore by 2025.

At the #WeSeeEqual summit, P&G India has also made a commitment to introduce the ‘P&G ReLaunch program’ – to welcome back talented professionals who took a break from the workforce and are looking to restart their careers in STEM roles, with targeted support and development

This program is part of the company’s commitment to strengthen diversity in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and will focus on people looking to relaunch their careers in IT, Research & Development, and Product Supply.

“One of our key focus areas this year is representation and diversity in STEM. Therefore to encourage girls to take up and continue with STEM courses and today we announced the P&G Shiksha Betiyan Scholarship Program’, says Verma.

‘P&G Shiksha Betiyan Scholarship Program’ will provide financial aid and mentorship to girls wanting to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education.

This program will be introduced across 50+ colleges including technical institutes, undergraduate colleges and post-graduate universities. The program will be aimed at underprivileged girls and will provide them with financial support and mentorship as they pursue STEM education.

All of these efforts will be fronted and initiated by individual P&G India brands to begin with and later taken across different products and brands. For example, conversation around women representation in STEM has been fronted by OLAY for the past couple of years.

Speaking about the importance of being purpose-driven, Verma says that consumers are targeted with about 4,000 ads in a day, “there is a massive clutter”.

“With reducing attention span, one way to break through the clutter and make them notice what we want to say in connecting with them on shared values and beliefs. Nine out of 10 consumers feel better about a brand that supports a social cause or an environmental cause. Why is that? Because you make friends with people with shared values and beliefs. It is really the same for consumers. Once you connect with them, it has an outright impact on the brand. They notice you more. Like one notices their friends more. And everything that the brand does gets more attention.”

Verma adds that P&G India believes in long term commitment. “Meaningful change takes time. Purpose can’t change every season.”