P&G to make brand ads accessible to individuals with impairments

P&G has pledged to improve the accessibility of its brand advertising, including social media content and websites, by making it accessible to people with sight and hearing impairments by 2024. Magesvaran Suranjan, president for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (AMA), said during its annual #WeSeeEqual summit that the company will do this for all new brand advertising across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. This initiative will make P&G brands more inclusive and accessible to all members of its community.

It also plans to achieve equal representation of female directors behind the camera for the company's brand advertisements in the region by 2024. According to Suranjan, P&G made strong progress in the AMA region, increasing the representation of female directors from 16% in 2019 to 35% today. The company plans to achieve the 50-50 goal by 2024 through a comprehensive set of actions to build, fuel, and connect a pipeline of diverse female talent in advertising, media, and content.

At the same time, the FMCG giant will also spend a cumulative total of US$300 million by deliberately working with women-owned and women-led businesses across the region until 2025. This is a US$100 million increase from its commitment last year. On the talent front, it will introduce the P&G ReLaunch programme to welcome back professionals who took a break from the workforce and are looking to restart their careers in STEM, with targeted support and development.

This programme is part of the company’s commitment to strengthen diversity in STEM and will focus on people looking to relaunch their careers in IT, R&D, and product supply. The programme will be first launched in India, Egypt, Singapore, Japan, and the Philippines.

Suranjan said: "We believe in the power of our differences and the impact we can make when we come together, united by our shared values and purpose. We are making great progress, yet we know there is more work to be done."

P&G has been walking the talk when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Last year, it announced its "Share the Care" parental leave policy, which introduced greater leave benefits and flexibility for all new parents within the company. P&G also achieved its commitment to achieving a 50-50 gender balance across its management workforce by 2022 in the AMA region, completing this ahead of schedule. It is also currently educating more than 15 million girls on puberty and hygiene through its "Keeping Girls in School" programme by Always and Whisper, achieving the halfway mark in one year.

Photo courtesy: 123RF

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