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You may not be able to tell from this page, but I am graced with an extremely pale skin tone. My mom jokes that sometimes I look like I have never seen the sun. Nonetheless, some of my favorite memories consist of picnicking, hiking, and generally living my life outdoors. I traveled with the volleyball team to Malibu last weekend and we had the opportunity to squeeze in a quick trip to the beach before our red-eye back to Atlanta. Similar to some of my other fairer-skinned teammates, the sun left a mark, even though we were only outside for less than two hours in the late afternoon.
We were all reminded of the importance of frequent and consistent application of sunscreen, and to not underestimate the strength of the sun’s powerful rays.
More importantly, the sun has a lot of positive side effects.
The sun makes us feel happier, as “exposure to sunlight produces endorphins” and serotonin, essential hormones for both our physical and mental health, which directly link to our mood.
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The sun also aids in the synthesis of Vitamin D, a mineral that is “important for healthy bones, teeth, and muscles” (NHS).As such, Coppertone sunscreen is a necessary staple in my everyday life.
Coppertone has offered reliable and valuable sun protection since their 1944 roots. In 1972, Coppertone introduced the Sun Protection Factor, more commonly known as the SPF Index. They were also the first to label their products accordingly, using SPF as a tool to indicate the strength of sun protection.
Coppertone’s storied history as a category leader extends from their supply chain and subsequent transparency strategy, to their multi-faceted corporate social responsibility initiatives. Coppertone is just one iconic brand among many (Aspirin, Aleve, Alka Seltzer, Claritin, Dr. Scholl’s) that is part of the Bayer portfolio, and committed to making lives better.
Bayer’s most prominent commitment to improving quality of lives is their awareness of the sun’s damaging rays. Exposure to the sun accounts for “up to 90% of the visible signs of skin aging”. Additionally, skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, as it affects one in five Americans in their lifetime. UV exposure is a “major skin cancer risk factor” and concrete, sand, water, and snow reflect these “up to 85% of UV rays”. While Coppertone’s website, does a great job of educating the curious, worrisome consumer, there is still a massive education gap as Americans struggle to envision the sun damage ten or twenty years down the road, when it tends to reveal itself. Unfortunately, by then the damage has set in.
Most Americans do not use sunscreen, as “43.8 percent of men (compared to 27 percent of women) saying they never use sunscreen on their face and 42.1 percent of men (compared to 26.8 percent of women) saying they never use it on other exposed skin”. The study also noted that sunscreen use is less prevalent in lower income communities, and among non-Hispanic blacks and those whose skin is less sensitive to the sun’s rays.
Bayer’s Protect What Matters campaign seeks to encourage and empower children to become aware of sun safety and take steps to protect themselves. Coppertone is working with 4-H to select communities with rising melanoma rates that would feel the greatest impact due to “free public access to sunscreen; 5,000 sampling kiosks will be set up in locations such as outdoor stadiums and concerts, as well as parks across the country”. Coppertone is also leveraging 4-H curriculum to develop children’s “Sun Smarts” so that they can make informed choices at a young age. Coppertone sees the bigger picture as they invest in safety and education, and they have stayed true to their brand to protect what matters, American children.
In addition to protecting children, the natural world needs human intervention to guard against damage to coral and marine life due to sunscreen runoff. Oxybenzone, a chemical found in Coppertone’s products has been identified as “toxic to the symbiotic algae that live within corals”, as it rubs off of visitor’s sunscreened bodies into the ocean waters (Glusac). Coral reefs are essential to marine life as “one-quarter of all ocean species depend on reefs for food and shelter”. These rainforests of the sea also have a huge importance to the human population as the “value of coral reefs has been estimated at 30 billion U.S. dollars” due to the tourism jobs, medicinal benefits, food sources, and shoreline protection that coral provides. Coppertone must make an effort to invest in biodegradable sunscreens, without oxybenzone, in order to protect coral reefs and their lively inhabitants for years to come.
Sunscreen’s role has shifted from simply preventing painful sunburn to slowing aging, preventing skin cancer, and protecting precious marine life with innovative biodegradable formulas. Sunscreen’s global involvement continues as Bayer maintains an emphasis on corporate social responsibility at the political and societal level. Bayer hired AccountAbility, a global consulting and standards firm to conduct an independent assessment of Bayer’s internal systems and the labeling accuracy of 10 of their best-selling U.S. products. AccountAbility’s findings conclude that “Bayer's products comply with internal and all applicable external guidelines to ensure the labeling accuracy of Coppertone products, accurately test and implement quality assurance procedures, and are found to comply with quality, safety and efficacy requirements”. In addition to this huge win, as an industry first, Bayer publicly released this report, receiving great praise from industry experts.
Bayer is also involved with the U.N. Global Compact, the CEO Water Mandate and Caring for Climate, and the Global Compact LEAD network and their local affiliates. Also at the local level, Coppertone is lobbying state by state to push laws through that “currently prevent children from bringing sunscreen to schools in almost 80% of the country” so that these susceptible communities can find protection too.
Bayer emphasizes that they purchase locally whenever possible, and claims that this “71% of procurement spend” strengthens local economies. However, Bayer and Coppertone have a lot of work to do in terms of transparency, as I was unable to trace active ingredients, raw materials such as water or zinc, or packaging from their plants in Cimanggis, Indonesia and Majinpu, China to their U.S. production centers in Cleveland, Tennessee and Myerstown, Pennsylvania. Research and development takes place in labs in Morristown, New Jersey, and at Bayer’s Consumer Health division headquarters in Whippany, New Jersey. Extensive testing on the quality, safety, and efficacy of the sunscreens happen at the headquarters.
Bayer does place an emphasis on supplier relationships, with a goal to “have evaluated all strategically important suppliers by the end of 2017” and they achieved their target with a 99.5% evaluation rate. They will continue to investigate and evaluate suppliers and hope to identify “all potentially high-risk suppliers with significant Bayer spend” by 2020, and are on track at 93%. They are currently in the midst of conducting a massive stakeholder survey and materiality analysis that will guide future targets and decision-making.
While information on Coppertone’s sourcing also was difficult to find, they appear extremely transparent in comparison to their competitors. Burt’s Bees is the most significant competitor in that they talk a lot of talk about their “journey to greater transparency and traceability across our supply chain”. They have committed to ethical sourcing and advertise that their beeswax is sourced from Uyowa, Tanzania, and that they “hope to reinvest in 10 such global supplier communities by 2020 but have no proof to back it up. Other competitors such as Banana Boat, Neutrogena, and Hawaiian Tropic are disappointingly vague. Coppertone is not alone in the sun care industry in that they must step up their transparency about their supply chain.
In addition to greatly improving their transparency, Coppertone must set the standard for consumer education. Coppertone has done an excellent job of self-regulating to ensure they are meeting FDA standards for safety testing and accurate labeling. Their commitment to producing high quality, safe, and effective products is apparent and something competing brands and other consumer packaged goods companies can aspire to. However, as the global sun care market continues to expand, “rising from a value of $14.8 billion in 2015 to $24.9 billion by 2024”, Coppertone’s position as an industry leaders demands a greater responsibility. Even though sunscreen has been around for generations, we still fail to use it properly. In order to protect your whole body, users should apply one ounce (30 mL), enough to fill a shot glass. Clearly, this is not the case for most Americans and a heightened investment in Preventative information and initiatives can meet community needs.
Coppertone’s easy-to-use UV Index tool on their website, with specific guidelines on how to prepare for the sun in your location, is a great start, but Coppertone must continue to educate the greater community about protecting themselves from the sun’s danger by reapplying frequently, wearing clothing with SPF shielding, and avoiding situations that require staying out in the sun during midday. Coppertone has a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on skin protection, care for coral and marine life, and global CSR initiatives as they continue to refine both their products and their supply chain. In turn, Coppertone can capitalize on the precious moments in which sunshine brightens our day and brings people together, and Coppertone can ensure that these memories are formed happily and healthily.
The Ethical Footprint Of Bayer’s Coppertone Sunscreen. (2024, Feb 28). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-ethical-footprint-of-bayer-s-coppertone-sunscreen-essay
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