Global Product Transparency: SC Johnson Offers Ingredient Lists So You Can Make Choices for Your Family

Most people agree companies should tell the truth when asked about their products. But at SC Johnson, we think honesty should go even further. We believe in proactively choosing to be transparent about our product ingredients, to give you the whole story about what you are bringing into your home. 

After all, we’re a family too. We understand you want to feel good about the things you use around the people and pets you love. We feel the same.

But around the world, many countries have inconsistent regulations about ingredient disclosure – or none at all. So, in the absence of industry standards, we have focused on doing the right thing. 

We started in 2009, launching our product transparency programme in the United States and Canada. We wanted to provide as much information as possible about the SC Johnson products you buy. But while we started in one region, we already knew we wanted to take transparency global.
 
A decade later, our WhatsInsideSCJohnson.com ingredient site now provides ingredient information to consumers everywhere around the world who use our products. We expanded to Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America, bringing the same high standards and consistent disclosure in every market. 

There were a lot of firsts along the way, too. We introduced product-specific fragrance disclosure and launched a skin allergen disclosure programme that goes far beyond what most companies share. We also were the first major CPG company to globally disclose fragrance ingredients down to .01 percent of our product formulas.  

And we don’t intend to stop. We negotiate with suppliers to be as transparent as we can be about the materials we source. And, we’re always looking for opportunities for dialogue about ingredients, like our 100% transparent fragrance collection. 

It’s not always easy being first or being transparent. Along the way, we’ve faced challenges from suppliers who wanted to protect their ingredient information, and even internal debates about giving away our “secret recipes.” And that’s not to mention the millions of dollars we have invested to build the databases and systems that drive our disclosure.

But we have not wavered, because we know it is the right thing to do. People today believe companies should be responsible for the transparency of their products. We hear this from consumers all over the world, from Brazil to Thailand. And we couldn’t agree more. 

By keeping our promise of global ingredient transparency, explained our Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson, “we have brought ingredient transparency around the world, and in the process, we have helped motivate the industry toward greater transparency.” 

“I’m immensely proud of the dedication and work by the people of SC Johnson to deliver global ingredient transparency,” Fisk said. “Through these efforts, SC Johnson continues to work hard to earn the goodwill of consumers. As a family company, we’re committed to honouring those values and maintaining that trust.”

We like to think that as we have invested in doing what is right, we have also helped bring about industry change. Beyond the transparency firsts we have delivered, we’ve also worked to advocate for smart regulation and contribute to important dialogue about transparency. 

In 2018, we sponsored interviews with global thought leaders around the globe for a closer look at how company practices affect trust. This research gathered insights from more than 30 experts in the fields of sustainability, transparency and responsibility, and led to a new white paper called Building Trust: Why Transparency Must Be Part of the Equation.

Among other insights, those interviewed shared perceptions such as the power of transparency to build trust, how and why expectations are evolving, and how transparency enables stakeholders to hold companies accountable.

Accountability is something we have long believed in here at SC Johnson.

As our Chairman and CEO has said, because we are a family company, we don’t make choices just to meet the next quarter’s sales quota. We approach decisions as if the consequences will be sitting down with us at the family dinner table for years to come. 

It is a big responsibility, but we would not have it any other way for our family – and we know you would not for yours, either.