Always Discreet has unveiled new packaging containing innovative codes to improve product accessibility for blind and partially sighted customers. In a first for the category, Always Discreet has partnered with the NaviLens technology to better enable all women suffering with bladder leaks to find the products they need on shelf.
In the UK there are more than two million people living with sight loss and 340,000 people are registered blind or partially sightedi. Daily tasks such as shopping can be a significant challenge. NaviLens can help with such tasks as the printed codes can be scanned at a distance with a smartphone and the free app to allow users to hear the information stored within them, such as packaging information and usage instructions. The Always Discreet and NaviLens partnership has the potential to improve access for this community to a product range which can be intimidating or embarrassing for many women.
P&G accessibility leader Sumaira Latif commented: “Everyone has the right to know what they’re buying so by integrating NaviLens to the front of the Always Discreet packs, the brand is further enabling this for all. I’m thrilled to see the brand enter into this pilot partnership as it represents the first step towards improving accessibility and representation in product design and marketing.”
From March 2023, four of the most loved Always Discreet pads and pants products will feature NaviLens on the front of the packaging, as part of a pilot initiative. The codes contain all of the packaging information as well as usage and disposal instructions. Other accessibility steps the brand is taking on its journey include improving representation in advertising and marketing efforts, closed captions in TV adverts, internal training and continuing to design products for better accessibility.
Marc Powell, accessibility innovation lead at RNIB, said: “Collaborating with brands such as Always Discreet is so important in our ongoing mission to highlight how the industry can raise its game and make packaging more accessible. Blind and partially sighted people should have the same freedom, independence and choice as sighted customers. We care about what brands we use and about what products we use.
We are pleased to be working with P&G to bring about more accessible packaging through the use of NaviLens and urge other brands to follow in their footsteps.”
NaviLens not only stands to benefit those with low or no vision, but everyone – enabling shoppers to input specific criteria into the app, only detecting the products that match that specification. It means that instead of physically picking up and reading key product information on each and every pack, shoppers can harness NaviLens to make their shopping experience even easier. It’s a shining example of how innovation to improve the lives of people with disabilities stands to benefit all.
The Always Discreet brand has been normalising the conversation around adult incontinence since its inception in 2014. Despite one in three women experiencing bladder leaks in their lifetime, it remains a stigma and Always Discreet wants to help reduce this and encourage women to live with no compromise.
Always Discreet forms part of the Procter & Gamble Feminine Care category in which its other brands and products are also improving their accessibility with easy to understand, usage symbols on Always packs and new interlocking wings on Always Ultra and Platinum pads to improve ease of use for those with dexterity issues. Other P&G brands that have introduced the NaviLens solution to their packs include Pantene, Ariel, Fairy Non-Bio, Daz and Bold pods.
The new Always Discreet packs featuring the NaviLens codes on four of the top products will be on UK shelves as of 1 March 2023.
