SC Johnson, Touting Family, Reveals Product Ingredients

When a consumer reads the tiny type on the side of a can of furniture polish, window cleaner, or air freshener, they may be puzzled, surprised, or even angry —depending on their knowledge of chemicals and additives. But these days, with increasing concern about product contents, some manufacturers are making sure consumers are well-informed.

SC Johnson & Son, a leading maker of household products such as Glade, Pledge and Windex, is taking consumer empowerment one step further. On Thanksgiving, the company will begin to air ads in which its chairman and chief executive, Herbert Fisk Johnson III (known as Fisk) will commit to disclose the ingredients of all of its household products.

The company's new campaign will run on network and cable television but will also have a strong online component, including a presence on cnn.com, marthastewart.com, msn.com, people.com, and yahoo.com.

The campaign is the latest from S. C. Johnson, a company that is proud of being family-owned — so proud, in fact, that it has built the phrase "a family company" into its logo and has used it to market its products for over a decade.

Fisk Johnson, the fifth generation to lead the privately-owned company, tells the New York Times, "With our family name on products and our family name on the company, your family reputation is at stake. ...if a public company CEO screws up and damages the reputation of the company, they get a golden parachute and move on with their lives. If that happens with us, I have to look my family in the eye for the rest of my life."

Telling consumers what's really inside products may not sound revolutionary, but it could present a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Because of environmental concerns, eco-friendly household products like Method and Seventh Generation have grown increasingly popular. 

As a result, companies with more traditional product lines, like SC Johnson, have to find ways to make their products more environmentally attractive. "If we're really going to make progress on the environment," says Fisk Johnson, "we have to empower consumers to make more environmental choices. We need to inform them in practical ways and this ingredient disclosure is a very logical next step." SC Johnson now makes an eco-friendly line of products called Nature's Source.

Another motivation for SC Johnson's campaign is a bit more subtle: to appeal to a consumer who has become admittedly skeptical of public companies, and demonstrate that a family company like SC Johnson is a better alternative.

"We think the opportunity to get our message out is higher today than it has ever been," says Johnson. "The trust the public has in public companies and public-company CEOs is at an all-time low."