Consumers

Most respected companies

A survey conducted by the Reputation Institute, the international research and consulting organisation, has revealed that the company most respected by consumers globally is Lego, for the second year in a row. IKEA enjoyed second polling position, with food companies like Barilla, Mercadona, Kraft Foods and Danone also ranking highly. Johnson & Johnson, Canon and Phillips, and automotive companies like Toyota and Michelin also gained places. The study considered the reputation of the world’s largest companies and is based on online interviews with 60,000 consumers in 29 countries. Halliburton and Australia’s AWB received the lowest ratings.

Contact Reputation Institute 001 212 495 3855 www.reputationinstitute.com

WRAP breakthrough

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) had a major breakthrough this June when nine of the UK’s biggest brand owners signed the Courtland Commitment to reduce packaging for their products.

Britvic, Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd, Dairy Crest, Duchy Originals, Mars UK (formerly Masterfoods), McBride, Nestlé UK and Premier Foods all committed to reducing the UK’s annual output of 6.3m tones of waste by at least 340,000 tonnes by 2010. Asda, Boots, Budgens, Co-operative Group, Londis, Iceland, Kwik Save, Marks & Spencer, Morrison's, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose have been signatories since the campaign was launched in 2005.

Contact WRAP 01295 819 900 www.wrap.org.uk

EC creates anti-alcohol forum

The European Commission has established a forum in which NGOs and businesses can discuss ways in which the alcohol industry should become more responsible. The European Alcohol and Health Forum already has more than 40 members who will meet twice a year to focus on concrete actions that can be taken to protect children and young adults from irresponsible alcohol use. Meetings will be chaired by the Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection, and action plans will be made public to encourage transparency and commitment to deliver. An estimated 200,000 Europeans die from alcohol related deaths every year, and one in four young male deaths are also attributable to alcohol abuse.

Contact the European Commission http://ec.europa.eu

Kellogg’s expands commitments

Kellogg’s have announced that it will impose stricter child advertising guidelines on its products and it will provide front-of-pack nutrition labelling in a push to be more socially responsible about children’s diets. Advertising restrictions are already enforced by law in the UK, whereby products with too much salt, sugar or fat are not allowed to be advertised to children under 12, and will be expanded to all Kellogg’s distribution countries through the Kellogg Nutrient Criteria. There will also be an easy-to-understand front-of-pack label that gives a “snapshot” of what the cereal contains.

Contact Kellogg’s www.kelloggs.co.uk