World Heart Day
Joint initiatives between Unilever companies and national heart charities form part of this global partnership. World Heart Day is the focus for a series of events in more than 20 countries.
Heart disease is responsible for one in three deaths worldwide. According to the World Health Organisation, it is now the principal cause of premature death around the world. In April 2006, Unilever's Healthy Heart Brand team renewed a three-year global partnership agreement with WHF which had been in place since 2003.
As part of the agreement, Unilever's brands – Becel, Flora and Fruit d'Or – carry an adapted version of the WHF logo on packs and in advertising. This helps consumers identify cholesterol-lowering products. The pro.activ versions of our Flora and Becel spreads can actively lower 'bad' cholesterol by around 10% in just three weeks, halving the risk of a 40year old man dying from heart disease.
Promoting heart health
Unilever companies in more than 20 countries took part in World Heart Day2006. Consumers took advantage of free cholesterol screening, health education and dietary advice at events to promote awareness of heart health. Health promotion in poorer and middle-income countries is a priority because people’s awareness and understanding of coronary heart disease tends to be low.
For example, more than 1.2 million Russians die from heart disease every year. Unilever Russia worked with Russia’s Society of Cardiology to help Russians learn about cholesterol levels. Over 4,000 consumers were offered health advice and cholesterol testing. The company worked with Russia’s Centre of Preventative Health to co-produce a range of videos and educational materials to help teach people about blood pressure and cholesterol.
In Ireland, which has Europe’s second highest levels of heart disease, the Flora pro.activ team used celebrities to promote the importance of cholesterol testing. Champion of the Gaelic sport of hurling, D J Carey, and former rugby international Tony Ward took up the challenge to lower their cholesterol in just three weeks. They did this by 16% and 21% respectively by eating 20-25g of Flora pro.activ a day – enough to spread on two slices of bread – and by following a special diet.
Unilever Ireland offered health advice and free product samples to people over 50 at a two-day event, with information from the event reaching more than 13,000 consumers. "It all helped to increase cholesterol awareness in Ireland and further establish Flora pro.activ as a leader in heart health," says Colette O’Brien, brand manager in Ireland.
Unilever Czech Republic focused their campaign on women. This was in response to a WHF report that heart disease and strokes kill eight times more Czech women than breast cancer. Brand manager Marcela Svobodova says: "Our goal was to make women aware that a healthy heart is very important – even at a young age." The local Flora team hosted a promotion called "Heart Affair" in Prague, with a fun run, fitness testing, advice from Czech Olympic athletes, information on low-cholesterol diets and heart-shaped balloons for children.
Four-metre high model hearts were paraded at street events in Athens and Salonica to raise awareness of heart health. Unilever's Greek company, Elais, worked with local organisations to construct Greece’s biggest model heart. It was filled with 3,000 red boxes, each signed by a member of the public as a personal commitment to look after their heart.
As well as communicating the message "look after your heart" to consumers, Unilever offered employees free cholesterol and blood pressure checks at a number of sites and healthy food choices were promoted in staff restaurants.
