There are 253 million people around the world who are vision
impaired, yet only 4% of businesses are actively creating products
with disabled people in mind. In observance of World Sight Day on
October 10, 2019, Herbal Essences is expanding the brand’s use of
tactile markings and embracing technology like Alexa and the Be My
Eyes app, making hair care easier for people with low to no vision.
These new tools make it easier for everyone to browse Instagram,
shop, shower and even style their hair.
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Last year, Herbal Essences was the first mass hair care brand in
North America to introduce tactile markings designed to help
differentiate between shampoo and conditioner for those with a
vision impairment. This innovation was spearheaded by Sumaira “Sam”
Latif, P&G’s Accessibility Leader, who has been with the
company for over 18 years and is herself blind. Latif pioneered
this effort to help low vision consumers distinguish between
shampoo and conditioner products through the sense of touch, with
raised stripes on shampoo and circles on conditioner on the
bio:renew line-up. Beginning in January 2020, all Herbal Essences
shampoos and conditioners, such as the Hello Hydration, Color Me
Happy and Smooth Collections, will have tactile differentiations to
alleviate in-shower confusion and help consumers, especially those
with low vision, confidently perform daily tasks.
“A universal tactile marking seems like such a small thing, and
yet as a blind woman it’s the little things that make such a big
difference in my life. I’m excited to broaden the positive impact
this has had for the vision impaired community and deliver on our
mission to help everyone experience the positive power of nature
every day,” said Latif.
This year, Herbal Essences is bringing help beyond the shower
with technology that makes searching for the perfect product and
independently shopping more accessible. The brand is introducing an
Alexa skill and offers specialized help on the By My Eyes app.
Knowing the importance of audio assistance, the new Amazon skill
allows consumers to ask questions about Herbal Essences’ products,
ingredients and personal recommendations. The Alexa skill is
enabled by saying “Alexa Open Herbal Essences.” Then, you can ask
questions such as “Alexa, what Herbal Essences shampoo is good for
curly hair?” The Be My Eyes app is a free service that connects
blind and low vision people with sighted volunteers through a live
video call. Herbal Essences’ has gone a step beyond with a
specialized help feature that directly connects blind users with
in-house experts to get assistance as they shop in-store, get ready
at home or have hair care questions throughout the day.
“We get a lot of questions through the app about people’s
appearance – do my clothes match, does my make-up look right, do I
have any fly-aways? It’s great when we can have experts from a
specific, in-demand field, like hair care, to provide an elevated
level of service for our community,” said Will Butler, VP
Community, Be My Eyes. “We hope other brands will take note of this
effort in making their products and themselves more accessible to
this community in an effort to truly serve all consumers.”
Knowing most consumers use social media and websites as
resources, Herbal Essences is also increasing accessibility for the
vision impaired in these areas. The brand is partnering with blind
YouTube star Molly Burke to collaborate on inspiring content
related to overcoming daily beauty challenges.
“I’m excited to work with Herbal Essences to co-create content
that will benefit my community and drive toward greater inclusivity
and accessibility for all,” says Molly. “I know one of the most
difficult things for me as a beauty and lifestyle creator has been
finding products with cognizant packaging and designing a routine
that works for me. I hope this content will serve as a helping hand
for those who are figuring that out.”
In addition, the Herbal Essences website will be accessible for
assistive technology users, such as screen readers, in January
2020. The brand’s Instagram page is also currently accessible for
this community through Instagram’s Alternative Text feature, which
utilizes Apple’s VoiceOver capability to allow users to listen to
in-feed image descriptions.
The full roll-out for Herbal Essences tactile markings on
shampoo and conditioner bottles will begin hitting stores in
January 2020 everywhere that the brand’s hair care products are
currently sold.
To learn more about this initiative, please visit
https://herbalessences.com/en-us/worldsightday, and join the
conversation using #HerbalEssences and #WorldSightDay.
About Herbal Essences
At Herbal Essences, we know it’s only natural to be different.
In fact, nature nurtures diversity and so do we. We protect
diversity in plants and embrace it in people and in our products.
We see beauty in all plants, all people and all places. And when we
don’t see it, we create it. We are committed to diverse
ingredients, inclusively designed products and partnerships with
experts and organizations that protect & preserve the planet
for all nature lovers. Now we’ve partnered with Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew, to endorse our real botanicals in Herbal Essences
bio:renew. We believe in the positive power of nature. We’re proud
to be naturally cruelty-free and acknowledged for it by PETA.
To learn more about Herbal Essences visit
www.herbalessences.com, or follow us on Facebook:
facebook.com/HerbalEssences, Twitter: twitter.com/HerbalEssences
and Instagram: @herbalessences.
About Procter & Gamble
P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the
strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands,
including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®,
Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head &
Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®,
Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes
operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit
http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G
and its brands.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191009005512/en/
For Media Inquiries: Marina Maher Communications
Monica Almeida malmeida@hellommc.com 212-485-6187
Alaina D’Arcangelo adarcangelo@hellommc.com 212-485-1673
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