Our commitments to diversity, equality and inclusivity

We are transforming our approach to diversity, starting with our marketing. Our marketing contributes to painting a reality of society and we can choose what we want that picture to look like. Our company values and consumers expectations of diversity mean that we need to engage on this topic, being proactive in our approach instead of waiting on the sidelines. Acknowledging our biases, we reached out to partners to help. The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers put us in touch with partners who could help us move in the right direction and cross-check our own biases, such as the Diversity Standards Collective.

As part of our mission, we want to become an authentically diverse brand with an authentic and socially aware diversity and inclusion plan.

In March we began a partnership with The Diversity Standards Collective who have connected us to diverse professionals and audiences across all of Actimel’s markets, enabling us as a brand to both internally and externally be more inclusive and authentic to every demographic within our consumer base. We’ve taken the last few months in partnership with them to seriously think about the changes we need, and the actions we will take. We want to share the long-term commitments we are making towards being a more diverse and inclusive brand:

Diverse talents: We want our advertising to be a positive reflection of an inclusive society. All of our advertising will always feature people of various ages, ethnicities, religions, sexualities, genders and/or people who are disabled.

Inclusive partners: We want to promote diversity and inclusion with our partners. We've created a new Advertising Charter to ensure all agencies we work with upholds our Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity commitments, ensuring that our adverts are created by people from all backgrounds; and are receiving equal and fair pay.

Who sees our ads: We want our products to be enjoyed by everyone, from every background. Since March, we’ve implemented a new advertising system that ensures that all of our adverts are seen equally by all communities.

Learning from all perspectives: We want to make sure our advertising is as representative as possible and will always bring in insights, ideas and perspectives to inform our plans. In October, we will be setting up Community Councils made of diverse and inclusive communities to help us do just that.

Our teams: We’re also taking steps to ensure greater diversity and inclusion within our workplace. We have set up internal RISE (Racial Inclusion Striving for Equality) and PRIDE forums to help us educate ourselves and embrace an inclusive workplace.

And we won't stop here. We'll continue working with all types of people to ensure our teams, partners, campaigns and advertising processes are authentically diverse and socially aware.

We know there is a lack of black representation within the consumer good industry. Our industry is often not representative of our consumer base or our country. We miss out on the perspectives, talents, ideas that young black people can add to our working cultures.

This year, we have started making an effort to shift perspectives within our company and the broader industry towards a truer representative of our consumers. One initiative we have partnered with is the PSALT mentoring program; where we formed mentoring relationships with 12 young, black individuals. This has provided us with new insights and perspectives to change our business to be more diverse and inclusive. Our mentors have also benefited from opportunities to challenge their own views, gain understanding and build empathy with the mentees. We are holding workshops with the mentors from September to October to receive direct feedback and challenge ourselves with tangible actions for the future.

We have also partnered with the UK Sapphire Foundation’s Employability Academy which seeks to help young people gain access to work, accredited training and gain leadership development. It was established to develop active citizenship skills among young people aged 15-30 years from disadvantaged backgrounds. We joined this year as an active partner, running employability workshops which provide training on topics such as CV writing, job applications, interview preparation, and more.

These are a few of the commitments and actions that we have taken. We recognise that this is a small start to a big issue. We are committed to real change, and the long journey that lies ahead. We will be keeping you updated as we make progress, and if you would like to share suggestions or helpful comments with us, please feel free to do so on our social channels or contact details at the bottom of the website.