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| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer goods |
| Founded | 1837 |
| Headquarters | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Key people | Alan Lafley, CEO & Director |
| Products | Consumer Goods and Products |
| Revenue | $55.4 billion |
| Operating income | 17,813,000,000 United States dollar (2022)  |
| Net income | 14,742,000,000 United States dollar (2022) |
| Total assets | 127,136,000,000 United States dollar (2016) |
| Number of employees | 110,000 |
| Website | www.pg.com |
Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) NYSE: PG is a global $50 billion (sales per year) consumer goods corporation based in Cincinnati, Ohio that manufactures a wide range of consumer products. The company has approximately 106,000 employees.
History
William Procter, a candlemaker, and James Gamble, a soapmaker, formed the company known as Procter & Gamble in 1837. The two men, immigrants from England and Ireland respectively, had settled earlier in Cincinnati and had married sisters. The two men decided to pool their resources to form their own company, formalizing the relationship on October 31, 1837.
The company prospered during the nineteenth century. In 1859, sales reached one million dollars. By this point, approximately eighty employees worked for Procter & Gamble. During the Civil War, the company won contracts to supply the Union army with soap and candles. In addition to the increased profits experienced during the war, the military contracts introduced soldiers from all over the country to Procter & Gamble's products. Once the war was over and the men returned home, they continued to purchase the company's products.
In the 1880s, Procter & Gamble began to market a new product, an inexpensive, yet high quality, soap. The company called the soap Ivory. In the decades that followed, Procter & Gamble continued to grow and evolve. The company became known for its progressive work environment in the late nineteenth century. William Cooper Procter, William Procter's grandson, established a profit-sharing program for the company's workforce in 1887. He hoped that by giving the workers a stake in the company, they would be less inclined to go on strike.
Over time, the company began to focus most of its attention on soap, producing more than thirty different types by the 1890s. As electricity became more and more common, there was less need for the candles that Procter & Gamble had made since its inception. Ultimately, the company chose to stop manufacturing candles in 1920.
In the early twentieth century, Procter & Gamble continued to grow. The company began to build factories in other locations in the United States, because the demand for products had outgrown the capacity of the Cincinnati facilities. The company's leaders began to diversify its products as well and, in 1911, began producing Crisco, a shortening made of vegetable oils rather than animal fats. In the early 1900s, Procter & Gamble also became known for its research laboratories, where scientists worked to create new products. Company leadership also pioneered in the area of market research, investigating consumer needs and product appeal. As radio became more popular in the 1920s and 1930s, the company sponsored a number of radio programs. As a result, these shows often became commonly known as "soap operas."
Throughout the twentieth century, Procter & Gamble continued to prosper. The company moved into other countries, both in terms of manufacturing and product sales, becoming an international corporation. In addition, numerous new products and brand names were introduced over time, and Procter & Gamble began branching out into new areas. The company introduced Tide laundry detergent in 1946 and "Prell" shampoo in 1950. In 1955, Procter & Gamble began selling the first toothpaste to contain fluoride, known as "Crest". Branching out once again in 1957, the company purchased Charmin Paper Mills and began manufacturing toilet paper and other paper products. Once again focusing on laundry, Procter & Gamble began making "Downy" fabric softener in 1960 and "Bounce" fabric softener sheets. One of the most revolutionary products to come out on the market was the company's "Pampers", first test-marketed in 1961. Prior to this point, there were no disposable diapers. Babies always wore cloth diapers, which were leaky and labor intensive to wash. Pampers simplified the diapering process.
Over the second half of the twentieth century, Procter & Gamble acquired a number of other companies that diversified its product line and increased profits significantly. These acquisitions included Folgers Coffee, Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Richardson-Vicks, Noxell, Shulton's Old Spice, Max Factor, and the Iams Company, among others. In 1996, Procter & Gamble made headlines when the Food and Drug Administration approved a new product developed by the company, Olestra. Olestra, also known by its brand name Olean, is a substitute for fat in cooking potato chips and other snacks. Procter & Gamble has expanded dramatically throughout its history, but its headquarters still remain in Cincinnati. {Source, Ohio History Central.}
Operations
Effective July 1, 2004, the company's operations are:
- Health, baby, and family care
- Household care
- Beauty care
- Chemicals
- Global operations
Brands
- see also List of Procter & Gamble brands
Thirteen of P&G's brands have more than a billion dollars in sales: Pampers, Tide (known in Brazil as Ace), Ariel, Always, Pantene, Charmin, Bounty, Iams, Crest, Folgers, Pringles, Head & Shoulders, Febreze and Downy. Other well known P&G brands include Ivory Soap, Oil of Olay, Max Factor, Bold, Daz, Flash, Hugo Boss, Zest, Fairy, Wella and Lacoste.
- See "Brand details" for more information
Brand details
included here are brands that do not have their own articles
- Always is a brand of feminine hygiene products, including maxi pads, pantiliners, and feminine wipes, produced by Procter & Gamble. --See also Brand homepage; Category:Hygiene
- Related Trademarks: Ultra Thins; Flexi-Wing; Maxis; Alldays; CleanWeave
- Bounty is a brand of paper towel sold in the United States and manufactured by Procter & Gamble. Its well-known advertising slogan is "The Quilted Quicker Picker-Upper...Bounty!" Procter & Gamble claims that the brand is more absorbent and larger than other brands of paper towel on the market. --See also Brand homepage
- Febreze is a household fabric odor freshener manufactured by Procter & Gamble, sold in North America, Japan and Europe. First introduced in test markets in 1996, the product has been sold in the United States since June 1998. Since its introduction, the brand has grown to include air fresheners in addition to fabric refreshers. --See also Brand homepage; Category:Cleaning products
- Pampers is a brand of disposable diaper marketed by Procter & Gamble worldwide. The main competitor in the United States is the Huggies brand. Also marketed under the Pampers brand is a disposable training pant bearing the sub-brand Easy Ups. Pampers introduced a mascot called "Pampa" ("Bang Bang" in China), an elephant, in several markets. --See also Brand homepage
- Tampax is a brand of tampon produced by Procter & Gamble. --See also Brand homepage; Category:Hygiene
Trademarks listed here have not been verified by consultation with a trademark registration agency.
Historic brands
Brands owned by Procter & Gamble in the past, but since divested:
- Crisco (vegetable oil and shortening) and Jif (peanut butter) - divested by Procter and Gamble in a spinoff to their stockholders, followed by an immediate merger with The J. M. Smucker Co. in 2002.
- Lava soap, sold to WD-40 in 1999.
Criticism
Procter & Gamble have been criticized by a number of animal rights organizations, notably PETA, the BUAV and In Defense of Animals, for the animal testing that they carry out, for a wide range of their products.
As well as testing of cosmetics and household products, much of this criticism has focused on animal tests for the Iams pet food brand, which was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 1999.
Financials
Financial information for the prior organization of the company follows:
| Net sales (US$M) | Net income (US$M) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 2001 | 2002 | 2001 | |
| Baby, Feminine and Family Care | 11,877 | 11,991 | 1,170 | 1,052 |
| Beauty Care | 8,079 | 7,257 | 1,177 | 967 |
| Fabric and Home Care | 11,618 | 11,660 | 1,831 | 1,643 |
| Health Care | 4,979 | 4,353 | 521 | 390 |
| Food & Beverage | 3,801 | 4,139 | 384 | 332 |
| Corporate | (116) | (156) | (1,462) | (570) |
| Total (US$M) | 40,238 | 39,244 | 4,352 | 2,922 |
Television
P&G produced and sponsored the first radio soap operas in the 1930s. When the medium switched to television in the 1950s and 1960s, most of the new serials were sponsored and produced by the Company. Two of their serials, As the World Turns and Guiding Light, still are on the air today.
List of past serials produced by P&G:
Procter and Gamble also was the first company to produce and sponsor a prime-time show, Shirley, starring Shirley Jones, in 1979; it lasted 13 episodes.
Diversity
Procter & Gamble was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine.
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Logo controversy
The company received unwanted media publicity in the 1980s when an unfounded rumor spread that their previous corporate logo was a satanic symbol. The accusation is apparently based on a particular passage in the Bible, specifically Revelation 12:1, which states: "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Since P&G's logo consists of a man's face on a moon surrounded by 13 stars, some have claimed that the logo is a mockery of the heavenly symbol alluded to in the aforementioned Biblical verse, and hence the logo is satanic. But the charge has been denied by company officials, and no evidence linking the company to the Church of Satan or any other occult organization has ever been presented.
External links
Criticism
- PGinfo.net, leads to iamscruelty.com
- PG.com: Animal Alternatives (broken) apparently in response to PGinfo.net; see next link
- Battle of the Web Sites: PETA vs. Procter & Gamble
- McSpotLight.org: Procter & Gamble in the McSpotlight also critical
- Boycotting Procter & Gamble Against the animal testing by Procter & Gamble.
Print Sources
Soap opera: the inside story of Procter & Gamble, by Alecia Swasy. Publisher: New York : Times Books, c1993. ISBN 0812920600. LCC: HD9999 Edition: $24.00 ($31.50 Canada)
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