Magic Clean promotes health and hygiene among rural and urban homes

Harpic and Lysol, two of Reckitt Benckiser’s market leading brands in household cleaning and disinfection, have scaled up their CSR programme, the Magic Clean campaign, which aims to educate and create awareness among the general public on the importance of cleanliness of toilets and other surface areas of the home.

 

While the campaign has been in progress over the last few years, the latest scaled-up version, which has been in motion during the last three months, sends out multiple teams in order for the campaign to cover more areas of the country simultaneously.

The objective of the ongoing campaign is to disseminate reliable information on the capability of specialised toilet and other surface cleaners to prevent the spread of diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera as well as other bacteria and virus related infections.

One of the important messages that the programme conveys is that a surface that appears clean may not actually be germ-free.

Therefore, the teams making house-visits emphasise the importance of using specialised cleaners to ensure a sanitised home.

  Speaking at the media conference of the Magic Clean campaign, Reckitt Benckiser’s Managing Director for Sri Lanka Rahul Murgai said@: “Research carried out across most countries show that the general public is normally oblivious to the importance of hygienic cleaning within households and unaware of health risks from disease causing germs that could be transferred from various surfaces of the home. Hence, it is important to raise public awareness levels around good hygiene habits that can greatly reduce the risk of illness in the family.”

He further added, “Through our Magic Clean campaign we are committed to reaching the masses and spreading the importance of hygienic cleaning. In future, we intend to roll out the campaign to other parts of the country as well.”

 Speaking about the future of the Magic Clean campaign, Head of Marketing of Reckitt Benckiser Tanzim Rezwan said, “It is our intention to take this programme island-wide and convey the message that proper cleansing and the use of adequate sanitary and disinfecting products are essential for a family’s health and wellbeing.”

 The teams convey their health conscious message through the use of branded vehicles fitted with PA systems, handing out leaflets, interacting with and addressing questions of the general public and distributing Harpic and Lysol products at special discounted rates.

Thus far the teams have covered urban and rural areas of the Western, Central, Southern and Northwestern provinces.

Highlighting the areas that the teams have covered, Senior Manager Surface Care Category of Reckitt Benckiser Shenali Wickramaaratchi said, “Some of the localities that the teams have visited include Kochchikade, Embilipitiya, Seeduwa, Tangalle, Gampaha, Wasgamuwa, Kelaniya, Dikwella, Mabole, Matara, Kotikawatte, Avissawella, Maradana, Kegalle and Yakkala. The campaign’s target is to reach 19,000 houses directly, and currently 15,400 have been visited by the teams. However, Magic Clean’s message is expected to reach about 96,000 households in total. This is because at housing schemes and villages, residents of neighbouring houses tend to drop in on and take part in awareness campaigns taking place at nearby homes.”

Reckitt Benckiser (Lanka) Limited, is one of the fastest growing consumer companies in the world. In Sri Lanka it has many brands, namely – Harpic, Lysol, Dettol, Mortein, Veet, Airwick, Colin, Disprin, Brasso, Cardinal, Mansion, Colmans, Robin and others.

It operates in home care, personal care, surface care, fabric care and healthcare categories.

The company has operations in 60 countries, sales in 180 and employs 22,000 people around the world.