Unilever launches 'Project Sunlight' to help 2 million children in India

Unilever is following up its Sustainable Living Plan with the launch of Unilever Project Sunlight, a new initiative to motivate millions of people to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. Project Sunlight aims to make sustainable living desirable and achievable by inspiring people to look at the possibilities of a world where everyone lives well and within the natural limits of the planet.

Project Sunlight, which is being launched today, on Universal Children’s Day, in Brazil, India, Indonesia, the UK and the US, is designed to appeal to people everywhere, and in particular parents, encouraging them to join what Unilever sees as a growing community of people who want to make the world a better place for children and future generations. To mark the launch of Project Sunlight on Universal Children’s Day, Unilever will be helping 2 million children through its ongoing partnerships, providing school meals through the World Food Programme; supporting Save the Children to provide clean, safe drinking water; and improved hygiene through UNICEF. As part of this campaign, Unilever in partnership with Unicef aims to reach out to 500,000 school children in 3,500 schools across India and set up handwashing facilities.

HUL CEO & MD, Sanjiv Mehta said, “The launch of Project Sunlight is a significant milestone in the history of our company. We believe that large companies like ours have to be part of the solution to the problems the world is facing. Adopting sustainable lifestyles and people using their purchasing power to make consumption choices that are good for them and good for the world are important factors in the drive to reducing social inequality and averting the worst climate change predictions – to make sustainable living commonplace.”

Unilever Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Keith Weed, explains: “Project Sunlight aims to galvanise and build momentum behind a movement that is already happening. We know people all over the world want to adopt more sustainable behaviours, but need these to be easy and to fit with the way they live their lives. As a global consumer goods company, we have the means to help people realise this ambition. We have extensive experience and research into what drives – and what limits – mass behaviour change. From this experience, we know that parenthood creates a profound shift in people’s view of the world and what the anticipated future will mean for the lives of their children.”

“In the first stage of Project Sunlight, we are inviting people to take three simple actions. We want to help people SEE a brighter future; in order to do this, we are inviting people to watch a film online which aims to inspire and motivate people. We want to encourage them to ACT by doing small things which, added together, contribute to a better society and environment. Ultimately, we want people to JOIN the movement and become part of a growing community of likeminded people and organisations who all want to play their part in building a brighter future,” adds Weed.

The film, especially commissioned by Unilever and directed by Academy Award winning director Errol Morris, will inspire people to see the future in a more positive and optimistic way. The film can be watched at www.youtube.com/ulprojectsunlight.

Project Sunlight will initially go live on an online hub – www.projectsunlight.com – which brings together the social mission stories of Unilever’s brands across the world, and invites consumers to get involved in doing small things which help their own families, others around the world and the planet.  Some of the brand programmes featured include Lifebuoy soap, which helps protect millions of children in Asia, Africa and Latin America from pneumonia and diarrhoeal disease, which kill 2 million children under five each year; Dove, which helps girls across the world improve their self-esteem; Omo, Persil and Surf, whose detergents help families cut their utility bills and CO2 emissions;  Comfort One Rinse, which helps families in water-scarce countries in Asia including India reduce their water use; and Lipton, Magnum and Knorr, whose use of sustainably grown ingredients helps small farmers grow better crops and improve their livelihoods.

Project Sunlight has been informed by the wealth of Unilever’s consumer insight, including a new international piece of research commissioned by Unilever. This shows that children are key to motivating adults to want to adopt more sustainable lifestyles and a powerful influence on parents changing their behaviour. 9 out of 10 parents say children’s natural optimism and enthusiasm inspires them to make the world a better place, and 7 out of 10 parents say their main motivation for wanting to live in a greener way is their children’s future. The research also shows that there are key child-related moments, particularly around the birth of a first child, when people are more open to changes in their own behaviours and lifestyles.

“We chose the name Sunlight as a tribute to our founder William Lever, whose audacious vision 130 years ago to ‘make cleanliness commonplace’ with Sunlight soap inspired Unilever’s equally ambitious purpose today: to make sustainable living commonplace. Sunlight also reflects the sense of possibility and optimism which characterises Unilever’s approach,” adds Weed.

Tim Hunter, UNICEF Deputy Director of Fundraising, concludes: “Unilever’s support to UNICEF’s sanitation programmes has already made a lasting impact on the lives of thousands of children, and the funding from this new initiative will help reach a further 500,000 children.  By supporting us in providing handwashing facilities and promoting group handwashing programmes across 3,500 schools in India, Project Sunlight will be helping these children to have a healthy start in life.”