Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Archewell Foundation has announced a long-term global partnership with American multinational corporation Procter & Gamble.
Harry and Meghan’s collaboration with the consumer goods company will focus on gender equality, more inclusive online spaces, and resilience and impact through sport.
Procter & Gamble was the firm Meghan wrote to when she was 11 to complain about the sexist language it used in a national television commercial.
Our multi-year global collaboration with Archewell Foundation is uniting behind a true shared mission: centered on gender equality, creating more compassionate and inclusive online spaces, and resilience & impact through Para sports. https://t.co/qJ3IExbde4 #LeadWithLove pic.twitter.com/zPdc9g6HCc
— Procter & Gamble (@ProcterGamble) May 11, 2021
Advertisement
She launched a letter-writing campaign to object to a dish soap advert which included the line “Mothers around America are fighting greasy pots and pans”.
Meghan asked them to change the commercial to “people all over America” and the company subsequently amended the language.
She appeared in an interview with Nick News in 1993 to talk about her campaign, saying she was “furious” at the advert for P&G’s Ivory Clear, adding: “When they heard this, the boys in my class started saying, ‘Yeah, that’s where women belong – in the kitchen’.”
The Archewell website, announcing the partnership on Tuesday, said: “Archewell Foundation believes that with community, and through compassionate service to others, we can unleash systemic cultural change.
“In service of doing this, and building more compassionate communities, Archewell Foundation announced a multi-year global partnership today with Procter & Gamble.”
All of us at P&G are beyond excited to share our new partnership with Archewell Foundation, the non-profit created by Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Together, we’re focused on building more compassionate communities around the world. #LeadWithLove pic.twitter.com/dMpvzl1eVL
— Procter & Gamble (@ProcterGamble) May 11, 2021
Procter & Gamble is best known for owning major brands such as Crest, Oral B, Gillette, Pampers and Tampax, with its vast business portfolio including baby, feminine and family care, beauty, fabric and home care, shaving products and healthcare.
It reported net sales in 2019 of 67.7 billion dollars.
The statement on the foundation website added the partnership would “elevate the voices of adolescent girls” to make sure “their point of view and lived experience is heard at the tables where decisions are made”.
The foundation also pledged to work with men and boys to encourage gender equality.
“Together we will underscore the importance of engaging men and boys in the drive for gender equity throughout society and encourage shared caregiving at home so everyone in the family can thrive,” it said.
Harry and Meghan, who plunged the British monarchy into crisis with their recent Oprah interview, quit as senior working royals in March 2020.
They had wanted a dual role, earning their own money and supporting the Queen.
But the plan was unworkable, and would have to led to accusations they were profiting from the monarchy and sparked potential problems scrutinising companies they might have gone into business with.
A so-called “hard Megxit” left them free to pursue multi-million pound deals with Netflix and Spotify.
They also set up their Foundation, which is a not-for-profit organisation and which strives to “uplift and unite communities … one act of compassion at a time”.
The Foundation said it will build on joint aspirations with P&G, which it worked with in support of Global Citizen’s Vax live concert, a charity performance in aid of the international Covid vaccination effort.
It will also join with P&G to ensure “parents of every makeup and all walks of life have the support they need”.
The organisation and the firm supported Harvest Home, a homeless shelter for expectant mothers, on Mother’s Day in the US at the weekend.
“Through this stream of work, both organisations recognise that when we uplift girls and women, communities thrive and everyone wins,” the Archewell website said.
The partnership will focus on the drive for “compassionate and inclusive online spaces” as well, with both Harry and Meghan speaking out about online abuse in the past.
Meghan once said she was “the most trolled person in the entire world”.
The collaboration will also build on Harry’s commitment to using sport in the recovery of wounded, injured and sick military personnel and veterans, and strive to increase the visibility of Para sport.
The duke founded the Invictus Games in 2014.
“As part of P&G’s sponsorship of Paralympic athletes, this partnership will leverage the platform of Para sport to increase visibility and inclusivity,” the Foundation said.
P&G said on its own website: “We’ve also been inspired by the mission of the Archewell Foundation and its founders, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, that with community, and through compassionate service to others, we can drive systemic cultural change, benefiting everyone.”
