More than one in five people in the UK are living in poverty1. That’s 22% of the population, a total of 14.5 million people2. For people and families living in poverty, basic hygiene items such as soap, toothpaste, and period products can become unattainable.
With a shared mission of tackling hygiene poverty, Unilever and Boots are joining forces with The Hygiene Bank for the second year of their Help Tackle Hygiene Poverty campaign, a collaboration which last year supported more than half a million people access hygiene essentials.
You Buy. We Donate.
Making purchases matter. For every two products of Unilever’s most popular brands, including Dove, TRESemmé, Radox, Lynx, Sure, Shea Moisture and Simple, bought from Boots either in-store or on boots.com between 29 June and 23 August, a third product will be donated on your behalf to The Hygiene Bank.
HYGIENE POVERTY: A PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH EPIDEMIC
The Hygiene Bank’s local projects are unanimously seeing an increase in demand, with a waiting list of more than 420 local charities in desperate need of support and donations.
For many, a lack of access to hygiene essentials is a very real consequence of living in poverty. Choosing between heating your home or being able to use basic hygiene items, such as deodorant, is a reality people across the UK are facing every day.
This could mean forgoing washing your hair because you can’t afford shampoo, having to share a toothbrush with a family member or not being able to afford nappies or period products.
When people don’t have access to basic hygiene, it can have a profound affect on the quality of their life. It can be easy to feel unable to participate socially and professionally and have an impact on mental health and wellbeing. Together, Unilever, Boots and The Hygiene Bank are challenging the status-quo, uniting to help tackle hygiene poverty to support those in need with hygiene essentials.
For additional information on the ways in which you can support further, please visit: www.boots.com/help-tackle-hygiene-poverty
On the partnership, Chris Barron – VP Beauty & Personal Care for Unilever UK&I comments:
“As the number of people in the UK facing hygiene poverty continues to grow, so does the impact it has on homes and families. Having access to products to stay clean has a serious knock-on effect on people’s lives and can impacting quality of life, mental health and wellbeing.
“Following the success of last year’s campaign, we have teamed up with Boots and The Hygiene Bank for a second year to help tackle hygiene poverty. And for our customers, supporting the campaign couldn’t be made easier – when shoppers buy their favourite two hygiene essentials from some of our biggest personal care brands in Boots, we will donate a product to The Hygiene Bank, helping change someone’s life”
Lucy Reynolds, Director of Communications and ESG at Boots says:
“Sadly, there are more people than ever who are relying on additional support from hygiene banks, and so initiatives such as this are really important. We have been working in partnership with The Hygiene Bank since 2020 and are really grateful to Unilever for joining forces with us and running this campaign to help donate even more essential products to those who need them.”
Lizzy Hall, Founder of The Hygiene Bank says:
“Hygiene poverty impacts every stage of life in the UK and yet many are unaware of this hidden crisis. That’s why we’ve partnered with Boots and Unilever to help tackle hygiene poverty by raising awareness and ensuring many of those in need have access to quality personal care products. With the demand for our services increasing every day, we know many of those swept into poverty will benefit greatly from this partnership.”
Boots has supported The Hygiene Bank since 2020, and now has over 400 donation points in its stores where customers can drop off their unopened personal care products and toiletries to be redistributed to local charities, schools and local authorities. In addition to this, Boots also has a “you donate = we donate” commitment, where it will donate a full sized product for every kilogram donated through its drop off points. To find out where your nearest drop off point is visit boots.com.
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For any PR enquiries, please contact: charlotte.anscombe@seengroup.com
About Unilever:
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Beauty & Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods & Refreshment products, with sales in over 190 countries and products used by 3.4 billion people every day. We have 148,000 employees and generated sales of €52.4 billion in 2021. Over half of our footprint is in developing and emerging markets. We have around 400 brands found in homes all over the world – including iconic global brands like Dove, Lifebuoy, Knorr, Magnum, OMO and Surf; and other brands such as Love Beauty & Planet, Hourglass, Seventh Generation and The Vegetarian Butcher.
About Boots:
Boots is the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer. Its mission is to be the first choice for pharmacy, health and beauty - caring for people, customers and communities everywhere.
With over 53,000 team members and 2,247 stores, ranging from local community pharmacies to large destination health and beauty stores, Boots serves its customer and patients’ wellbeing for life.
Boots is the UK’s number one beauty destination and largest pharmacy chain providing dispensing and essential healthcare services, and it offers an unrivalled depth and breadth of product offering including its innovative portfolio of brands, including No7, the UK’s No1 skincare brand, Soap & Glory, Liz Earle, Sleek MakeUP and YourGoodSkin. For over 170 years, Boots has listened, learned and innovated, and it continues to challenge itself to improve its products and services every day.
Boots is part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is a global leader in pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing retail. More company information is available on boots-uk.com.
*Figures accurate as of 31 May 2022
About The Hygiene Bank:
The Hygiene Bank is a national grassroots, people-powered charity, and social movement, grounded in community. Our passion stems from the injustice that people may be unable to fully participate in society due to hygiene poverty. This is why the team at The Hygiene Bank work to inspire social change. We are powered by volunteers in local communities who collect, sort and distribute donated hygiene products to local charities and community groups including schools, homeless shelters, women’s refuge / abuse shelters, and foodbanks.
The Hygiene Bank’s work does not only help people in need but also saves on products going to landfill. For more information about The Hygiene Bank, please visit www.thehygienebank.com In 2021 THB supported over ½ million people with Hygiene Essentials (623,100 units)
Refs:
1 According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a leading poverty charity https://www.jrf.org.uk/
Full report: https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2022