Observer
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Amanda Hernandez retrieves Johnson & Johnson products for testing.
BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF
The Customer is Always Right
ingredients in their products. The complex
Johnson & Johnson has removed two questionable chemicals from baby products due to consumer pressure, reports Katie Thomas.
re-engineering of some of Johnson &
effort carries both risks and rewards for the health care giant – it requires difficult Johnson’s most beloved brands, but success in the marketplace could serve as a muchneeded boost. Cathy Salerno, vice president of research and development for the company’s consumer products division in North
The only hinT ThaT someThing
America, said she had seen consumer
companywide effort to remove an array of
attitudes change significantly over the past
Johnson’s Baby Shampoo arriving on store
increasingly unpopular chemicals from its
decade. When Johnson & Johnson acquired
shelves are two words: “Improved Formula.”
personal care products, and is the biggest yet
Aveeno, the natural skin care company, in
by a major consumer products manufacturer.
1999, it polled customers about their interest
100 other baby products sold by Johnson &
Johnson & Johnson has also promised to
in the brand’s ingredients. The answer
Johnson, isn’t so much about what’s been
remove such chemicals, and others, from all
demonstrated little consumer concern about
added; it’s what’s missing. The products
of its consumer products by 2015.
the details. “They’re telling us the opposite
What’s different about the shampoo, and
© 2014 New York Times News service
The move is the first step in a
is different inside millions of bottles of
now,” she said.
no longer contain two potentially harmful
In doing so, the company is navigating a
chemicals, formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane,
precarious path, investing tens of millions of
Other manufacturers are also responding
that have come under increasing scrutiny
dollars to remove the chemicals while at the
to these concerns. Wal-Mart has announced
by consumers and environmental groups
same time insisting that they are safe. The
that it would eventually require suppliers
in recent years. In response to consumer
company is responding, executives said, to
to reduce or eliminate 10 chemicals from
pressure two years ago, the company pledged
a fundamental shift in consumer behaviour,
cleaning and personal care products. Target
to remove both chemicals from its baby
as an increasingly informed public demands
has said it would monitor suppliers’ use of
products by the end of 2013, and in January,
that companies be more responsive to their
potentially harmful chemicals, then give
it said that it had achieved that goal.
concerns, especially when it comes to the
incentives to companies that use safer
March 2014