Jason Priestley teams up with P&G and Walmart Canada to help provide clean water in the developing world. (image: Business Wire)
TORONTO, April 2, 2014 (Korea Bizwire) – It can be said that nearly all Canadians enjoy an unlimited supply of clean water, so it’s no surprise that a recent survey by P&G and Walmart Canada found that 80 per cent of Canadians take clean drinking water for granted. Yet approximately one billion people in the developing world* do not have the same luxury, and diseases from contaminated water are killing more children every day than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined*.
To help combat this global issue, during the month of April, P&G will donate one day of clean drinking water** for every P&G product purchased in store at Walmart or Walmart.ca to the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Fund. The Canadian initiative will support P&G’s goal to save one life every hour by 2020 through the provision of two billion litres of clean water each year. From May 1 2014 to March 31, 2015, the purchase of a selection of more than 20 P&G products including Tide, Pampers, Duracell, Dawn, and Pantene*** at Walmart or Walmart.ca will also generate a donation.
“More than 1,600 children die every single day from water-borne illnesses,” said Jason Priestley, Canadian actor and clean water advocate. “As a dad, the thought of children dying from preventable diseases caused by lack of clean water is an unfathomable tragedy. I’m proud to be working with P&G and Walmart Canada to speak to Canadians on how they can help bring clean drinking water to children and families in the developing world.”
“Walmart Canada is proud to partner with P&G on this important initiative,” said Lee Tappenden, chief merchandising officer at Walmart Canada. “We know Canadians feel strongly about helping people in need, here and abroad. The Clean Water initiative gives all of us a chance to help save lives and build a better future.”
The initiative also aims to raise awareness for this global crisis. A recent TNS market research survey commissioned on behalf of P&G and Walmart Canada found that 65 per cent of Canadians are unaware that illness caused by contaminated drinking water is a leading cause of death among infants and children in the developing world.
Other survey findings include:
- Eighty-seven per cent believe it is important for Canadian children to grow up caring about children in other countries;
- Half (56 per cent) of Canadians do not fully understand the daily challenges those in the developing world face.
“Working with Walmart on the Clean Drinking Water Campaign will help us to make a difference addressing the global clean drinking water crisis,” said Allison Tummon-Kamphuis, P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program leader. “Canadians can support this campaign just by doing their regular weekly shopping at Walmart for their family.”
The Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program utilizes P&G water purification packets, a water purifying technology developed by P&G to help reduce sickness and death resulting from drinking contaminated water. One small P&G water purification packet turns 10 litres of potentially deadly water into clean, potable water. Nearly seven billion litres of clean drinking water have been provided by humanitarian organizations across the globe using P&G packets, including CARE, PSI, Save the Children and World Vision helping to save an estimated 39,000 lives in more than 75 countries.
At the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative, P&G announced their intent to provide enough clean water to save one life every hour in the developing world. This can be made possible by the delivery of more than 2 billion litres of clean drinking water every year by 2020 – helping save an estimated 10,000 lives and preventing 80 million days of diarrheal illness on an annual basis. Since inception, the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW) has partnered with more than 140 NGOs, charities and governments to raise awareness and deliver clean water.
To find out more about this program, please visit www.csdw.org and www.walmart.ca/cleanwater.
Survey Methodology For the study, a national sample of Canadians 18 and older was randomly selected from TNS Canada’s Internet research panel and invited to complete an online survey. In total, 1,001 adults completed the questionnaire between Jan. 30 and Feb. 2, 2014. The survey data were weighted to reflect the demographic distribution of Canadian consumers.
About Procter & Gamble P&G serves approximately 4.8 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Ace®, Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Duracell®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Fusion®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Iams®, Lenor®, Mach3®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, Prestobarba®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, Wella®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.
About Walmart Canada Walmart Canada operates a growing chain of 389 stores nationwide, including 247 supercentres, serving more than 1.2 million customers each day. In addition, Walmart Canada’s flagship online store, walmart.ca, is visited by approximately 300,000 customers daily. With more than 95,000 associates, Walmart Canada is one of Canada’s largest employers and is ranked one of Canada’s top 10 most influential brands. Walmart Canada’s extensive philanthropy program is focused on helping Canadian families in need, and since 1994 Walmart has donated and raised more than $200 million to Canadian charities. Additional company information can be found at walmartcanada.ca, facebook.com/walmartcanada and at twitter.com/@walmartcanada.
*Source: World Health Organization
** US$0.02
*** For more information about this program and a full list of participating P&G products available at Walmart, visit walmart.ca/cleanwater.
Source: Procter & Gamble, Walmart Canada (via Business Wire)
