Tesco accused of exploiting charity slogan
Howard Lake | 29 July 2009 | News
Unicef Ireland and Tesco have become embroiled in a row over the use of the slogan “Change for Good”.
Unicef Ireland has accused Tesco Ireland of capitalising on the name of one of its “longest running and best-known campaigns,” in place since 1987. Unicef uses the slogan for its campaign with 10 international airlines on long-haul flights where passengers donate foreign currency and in Ireland the campaign is run in conjunction with Aer Lingus and has raised €6.8 million since 1997.
Tesco has expressed surprise at Unicef and insisted “there is no question of misusing their brand which is registered only for use by charities”.
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Unicef Ireland’s executive director Melanie Verwoerd said however they had been getting calls non-stop from people asking them what the link was with Tesco.
“Change for Good” is trade marked Unicef for charity usage but is not trademarked for commercial or retail use.
Ms Verwoerd said, however, “this is not a legal issue. It is a moral issue” and she called on the public “who have children’s welfare at heart, to consider carefully who they support when making consumer choices”.
Tesco has used “Change for Good” as part of a summer advertising price reduction campaign. A spokesman for the company said “our ‘Change for Good’ programme has proven very popular with consumers who have seen significant reductions in the price of groceries as confirmed by the National Consumer Agency’s survey this week”.
There were discussions between the two sides about the slogan. Tesco said “there was one short meeting and some e-mails were exchanged which we believed had resolved the issue”.
Ms Verwoerd rejected this and said they had contacted Tesco in May and eventually, she said, “they told us it would be a low-key, below the radar in-store campaign but it is a major campaign”.
Tesco sources insist the supermarket was unaware of Unicef’s use of the slogan when it started its campaign. Ms Vorwoerd said “I find that very hard to believe. Has none of them flown transatlantic with Aer Lingus?”
www.unicef.ie
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.