This past fall, I attended the International Business Conference 2010 and had the opportunity to hear the opening keynote by Gord Meyer. Gord is a Director at Proctor & Gamble and he leads all of the commercial category teams in the company’s Canadian Market Development Organization. Before listening to Gord’s speech, my knowledge of P&G was very low. I was aware that it is a very large corporation that produces many different products. In the speech, Gord showed us various advertisements by P&G. Being an internationally known company, P&G customizes advertisements suitable for the region they are targeting. In particular, there was a commercial that caught my attention.
This advertisement is for Always, a feminine hygiene product, which is targeted towards women in Africa. When Gord played this video, many people found it humorous; myself included. However, there is a much deeper meaning than we perceive. As stated at the beginning of the video, 90% of women have to use tissue or cloth during their periods. They have to constantly check, making them very self conscious and bringing discomfort to their daily rhythm. This commercial shows happy, carefree school girls dancing and singing to rhythmic music. P&G is showing that if you use Always, you only have to check every 8 hours instead of every hour. Relating to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, through this commercial, P&G satisfying these women’s physiological and safety needs. African women perceive that by using Always, despite getting their monthly period, they can now feel safe and feel carefree.
From listening to Gord’s speech about P&G, I came to a conclusion that P&G is more than just business. It’s a company that CARES. Through the different products it owns, this company tries to satisfy their consumers’ needs in every way they can. Most importantly, they care about sustainability and they support causes that give back to the community. P&G has gained my respect!
