Does your picture appear on the new Tide bottle?

Tide's newly redesigned detergent bottle packaging is part of Procter & Gamble's new cause marketing campaign, "Loads of Hope", which raises funds for disaster relief. The new packaging shows photos of actual people that Tide has helped - including those affected by Katrina.

The bottles have a short shelf-life - the company only plans to have them in stores through June. Ten cents from the sale of each bottle will be donated to disaster efforts.

Tide has already run 30,000 loads of laundry for New Orleans residents. This initiative is covered in the new Tide commercials created by Saatchi & Saatchi, New York - like this commercial, which is running this month:



Tide is also donating 100% of funds from the sale of specially-designed $20 vintage t-shirts to disaster relief. Is this shirt made from organic cotton? Nope.



Additionally, Tide is partnering with Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest.)

“'Loads of Hope' is a key pillar for the Tide brand going forward. It’s the No. 1 driver of traffic to Tide.com, the No. 1 source of positive consumer verbatim and testimonials in our consumer relations group,” said P&G fabric care external relations manager Kash Shaikh. “A key part of what we’re doing is to connect with consumers.”

Source: Tide's Charitable Makeover, Brandweek, April 10, 2009, by Elaine Wong

I was hesitant to promote this campaign because even though I just read that Procter & Gamble made a commitment in 1999 to eliminate animal testing on 80% of their products, the company continues to torture rabbits, ferrets, and many other animals in its skin- and eye-irritancy experiments for cosmetics.

Additionally, Iams, a Procter & Gamble brand, continues to keep up to 700 dogs and cats locked inside its Dayton, OH laboratory for non-invasive nutritional studies. So instead of purchasing Iams dog food, please support these companies that do not test on animals, like Newman's Own dog food. Hey - if the dog food tastes as good (and is as good for the planet and for your body) as the company's cookies, then any dog should be happy eating it:)