Society

Consumer

Consumer

Community engagement

As a global company, we consider it our duty to take responsibility for our environment and to have a lasting positive impact on our fellow human beings. Through our corporate purpose Care Beyond Skin, we express our passion and ambitions to reach beyond our core business and contribute to greater social cohesion.

To this end, our global Social Commitments team works together with colleagues from the individual local affiliates who implement the global strategic framework in alignment with local conditions. In addition, at Beiersdorf headquarters we collaborate with colleagues from various specialist departments such as Marketing, Legal, Controlling, Corporate Communications, and Medical Management. Since 2013, we have evaluated the projects we support worldwide on an annual basis. The project managers at our local affiliates collect all relevant data, which we consolidate to analyze our activities globally. Not only do the results of this analysis serve as an important source of information for internal management, they also form an integral part of our efforts to transparently disclose sustainability data.

As we pursue the vision of an inclusive society, we focus our activities primarily on people who are affected by social inequality, marginalization, and isolation. We support local initiatives that aim to strengthen and support physical and mental health, a sense of social belonging, and the voluntary social participation of all members of society. This is how we would like to contribute towards promoting social cohesion.

Our commitment in the Consumer Business Segment takes place both at the corporate level and at individual brand level, and goes beyond our own value chain. Globally, the focus of our corporate commitment is on empowering girls and on disaster relief. In addition, each brand provides targeted support in areas aligned with its brand identity and area of expertise, considering the social needs and concerns of local communities.

We also involve our consumers in our brand engagement. For example, we continuously and transparently provide them with information on our social initiatives via the corporate and brand websites in an effort to raise public awareness of key social issues.

Engagement at corporate level

Empowering girls – during the COVID–19 pandemic and beyond

In 2023, we continued the COVID–19 aid program for which Beiersdorf Consumer had already initiated global partnerships in 2020. Through the program, we aimed to support people in the epicenters of the pandemic, especially in regions and countries with weak public health systems and infrastructures.

Beyond emergency aid, Beiersdorf has built long-term partnerships to mitigate medium- to long-term socioeconomic impacts of the COVID–19 pandemic – for girls and young women in particular. During the pandemic, girls and young women were more likely to have worked in fields that put them at a higher risk of contracting COVID–19, for example, in (home) care and healthcare sectors. During times of crisis, girls and young women also tend to be at an increased risk of experiencing sexual violence, being married off against their will, and having to leave school permanently. This is why empowering girls has been a particular focus of our COVID–19 aid program.

To provide the most effective assistance possible, we draw on our long-term partnership with the international non-profit organizations Plan International and CARE. They have the expertise needed to implement projects and can rely on established and stable networks on the ground. Also, they have many years of experience in impact measurement, ensuring an evidence-based approach in our social initiatives.

As the effects of the COVID–19 pandemic persist, our joint projects with Plan International in Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, and Nigeria and with CARE in Ethiopia and Kenya have been prolonged. Further projects have been set up in the Philippines and Vietnam with Plan International. The projects focus on mitigating the long-term effects of the pandemic for girls and young women with a focus on education, protection, health services, and economic resilience.

In 2021, Beiersdorf set the goal of directly reaching more than 300,000 people through its empowering girls projects by 2023. We exceeded this goal with 405,043 direct beneficiaries. In this context, direct beneficiaries are defined as individuals who are directly reached by one or more project activities. In the sense of a holistic, systemic approach that seeks to stimulate change across all of society, people of all genders and ages in a project’s locality can be counted as direct beneficiaries. Only by involving different members of a community is it possible to have a lasting impact on individuals – in this case, girls and young women.

In partnership with Plan International, Beiersdorf has been working towards strengthening girls’ rights to access education and preventing gender-based violence. For example, as part of the first project phase¹ in Colombia, more than 4,000 girls and young women were provided with hygiene kits accompanied by information and workshops on menstrual health, hygiene, and COVID–19 prevention. The first phase of these projects ran for a total of two years each, starting in October 2020 (Latin America) and February 2021 (Africa).

The projects with Plan International reached a total of 87,102 people.¹

In partnership with CARE, Beiersdorf has been working to ensure that girls and young women receive information about COVID–19 and access to appropriate healthcare. In addition, the objective of our joint projects is to mitigate the socioeconomic consequences for these particularly vulnerable groups and strengthen their livelihoods. The geographical focus of the first phase was on Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan. In Kenya, for example, 3,472 girls and women (including 145 participants under the age of 18) took part in the financial literacy training during the project period where they learned about different types of investments and risk management. In the project’s final evaluation interview, 95% of participants attributed their improved savings behavior to the training received. The first phase of these projects ran for a total of two years each, starting in January 2021.

In total, the projects with CARE reached 317,941 people.²

In addition, Beiersdorf works closely with Ashoka, the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs. October 2021 marked the launch of a one-year social innovation initiative which was extended for another year in December 2022. In 2023, together with Ashoka, Beiersdorf awarded additional grants to seven leading female social entrepreneurs from Portugal, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, and Switzerland, whose projects are dedicated to the empowerment of girls and women. Four of the social entrepreneurs were already supported in 2022, while three others received support from Beiersdorf for the first time in the reporting year.

Beiersdorf has also started promoting social enterprises in the field of plastic recycling as part of the COVID–19 support program under the name “Women in Circularity”. The initiative pursues two goals: Against the backdrop of the increased volume of plastic waste as a result of the COVID–19 pandemic, the aim is firstly to expand the capacities of recycling organizations in Argentina, Ghana, India and Kenya; and secondly, to empower the predominantly female workforce through training and development opportunities.

Digital psychological support for people affected by skin conditions – Research

In 2021, Beiersdorf partnered with the University of Cardiff to launch a three-year psychological study. The university is evaluating the impact of the COVID–19 pandemic and similar crises on the well-being of people affected by skin conditions. The study aims to assess, among other things, how the negative impacts can be mitigated using digital support tools. Building on previous project findings, the project entered its final phase in the reporting year, i.e. the development of a smartphone application that aims to provide motivational and psychological support to improve and maintain the well-being of people with skin conditions. The app will combine psychological support with educational and peer support elements.

Disaster Relief – Donations

In 2023, devastating natural disasters struck Syria, Turkey, and Morocco. In response, Beiersdorf donated a total of €1 million to the German Red Cross (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz – DRK) for emergency relief activities.³

Engagement at brand level

As a result of the revision of NIVEA’s social mission, the brand has decided to strengthen its social focus, taking into consideration globally relevant social needs. The brand will announce its new social commitments in 2024 alongside a new ambitious goal. The goals announced in 2021 will therefore no longer be pursued. Originally, the brand’s “Human Touch” projects were intended to have a positive impact on the personal health and well-being of more than 150,000 people by 2025, underpinned by a total financial commitment of €20 million.

Eucerin and the Health Care brands continued to pursue their own global social missions in 2023.

Eucerin is committed to promoting the social inclusion of people affected by dermatological conditions. Its projects focus on reducing social exclusion and stigmatization, as well as on improving participation in society. Stigmatization of people with skin conditions was investigated in the reporting year by a study on pimple marks⁴ conducted by Eucerin together with dermatologists. The study published in the British Journal of Dermatology shows that people with pimple marks were more frequently described as less self-confident, successful and happy compared to people without skin problems.

In Canada, the brand collaborates with the organization Camp Liberté which offers summer camps for children with skin diseases. Activities are tailored to the children’s special needs, allowing them to develop new skills and build self-esteem in a safe environment among peers. By the end of 2023, Eucerin achieved its target of implementing local social projects in 15 countries. Two countries are still in the first implementation step, i.e. preparing the measures with the patients. Ongoing projects will continue in 2024, and Eucerin plans to implement further projects promoting the social inclusion of people with skin diseases in additional countries.

The Health Care brands Hansaplast, Elastoplast, and CURITAS continue working toward their global social mission initiated in 2022: They target to educate 200,000 children in first aid and wound care by 2025. In 2023, 69,479 children⁵ received training in first aid and infection prevention, taking the total number of children reached since 2022 to 148,087. A total of seven affiliates continued to implement the mission locally in 2023.

In Germany, Hansaplast has been partnering with the Jugendrotkreuz (JRK) since 2014 to support first aid training for primary school children. The brand also sponsors the digital platform “DRK Parental Campus” which offers parents a low-threshold opportunity to take online courses, for example on first aid for children.