Procter & Gamble
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Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G - NYSE:PG) is a $50+ billion/year Global consumer goods corporation based in Cincinnati, Ohio that manufactures a wide range of consumer products. The company has approximately 106,000 employees.
Procter & Gamble was started in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble as a family-owned company in Cincinnati that manufactured soap and candles. Effective July 1, 2004, the company's operations are:
- Health, Baby & Family care
- Household care
- Beauty Care
- Global Operations
13 of P&G's brands have more than a billion dollars in sales: Pampers, Tide, Ariel, Always, Pantene, Charmin, Bounty, Iams, Crest, Folgers, Pringles, Head & Shoulders, Febreze and Downy.
Financial Information for the prior organization of the company follows:
| Net sales (US$M) | Net income (US$M) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 2001 | 2002 | 2001 | |
| Baby, Feminine and Family Care | 11,877 | 11,991 | 1,170 | 1,052 |
| Beauty Care | 8,079 | 7,257 | 1,177 | 967 |
| Fabric and Home Care | 11,618 | 11,660 | 1,831 | 1,643 |
| Health Care | 4,979 | 4,353 | 521 | 390 |
| Food & Beverage | 3,801 | 4,139 | 384 | 332 |
| Corporate | (116) | (156) | (1,462) | (570) |
| Total (US$M) | 40,238 | 39,244 | 4,352 | 2,922 |
Television
P&G produced and sponsored the first radio soap operas in the 1930s. When the medium switched to television in the 1950s and 1960s, most of the new serials were sponsored and produced by the company. Two of their serials, As the World Turns and Guiding Light, are still on the air.
List of past serials produced by P&G:
P&G was also the first company to produce and sponsor a prime-time show, Shirley starring Shirley Jones, in 1979; it lasted 13 episodes.
Logo controversy
The company received unwanted media publicity in the 1980s when an unfounded rumor spread that their corporate logo was a satanic symbol. The accusation is apparently based on a particular passage in the Bible, specifically Revelation 12:1, which states: "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Since P&G's logo consists of a man's face on a moon surrounded by 13 stars, some have claimed that the logo is a parody of the heavenly symbol alluded to in the aforementioned Biblical verse, and hence the logo is devilish. But the charge has been denied by company officials, and no evidence linking the company to the Church of Satan or any other occult organization has ever been presented.
External links
- PG.com: Procter & Gamble web site
- Yahoo profile
- PGinfo.net critical of P&G
- PG.com: Animal Alternatives apparently in response to PGinfo.net, see next link
- Battle of the Web Sites: PETA vs. Procter & Gamble
- McSpotLight.org: Procter & Gamble in the McSpotlight also critical
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