Stripped of Royal Warrant

[nickuk]

Was sitting in a vet's waiting room the other day whilst one of one's pussies was being investigated for abnormalities.

During the somewhat mundane wait I picked up a copy of The Times to flick through. I was interested to read that Hoover have had the royal warrant removed from the brand.

Forgot all about it, but just noticed that the royal warrant on bottles of Fairy washing up liquid have been replaced with a big drip!! I wonder what Fairy has done to offend royal sensitivities?

Perhaps her majesty has taken to going to ALDI, feeling that the `Magnum' equivalent is better value for money whilst being just as kind on the corgis?

 

[rolls_rapide]

"Hoover’s warrant was revoked in 2004 following an unflattering documentary about the vacuum company."

So said The Telegraph in 2012.

Furthermore, Rigby & Peller, former 'stay-makers' of distinction, recently lost their warrant, 'cos a former employee dared to mention Her Maj in a book.

I suspect that Procter & Gamble UK are importing more foreign made detergents than actually making them in the UK, thus not entirely a British subsidiary anymore. That could be the reason for the absent warrant. I often thought that too of Hoover, after Candy got their mitts on it.

All this 'globalisation' of companies' brands is doing, is giving corporate blandness to everything. And I don't like it - one iota.

Has the Royal Warrant lost its lustre?

The Palace seal of approval is no longer a guarantee of success

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[cuffs054]

sounds like Her Maj's pussy may have  abnormalities

 

[iej]

P&G and Hoover were US companies and multinationals from *very* early on. They're about as British as local Harley Davidson dealership in Doncaster.

If you wanted to celebrate a UK detergent Company, Lever Brothers / Unilever is the big one!

I somehow doubt that HRH ever actually used a Hoovermatic and I certainly doubt the royal household is buying budget brand modern Hoover appliances. She probably should be giving that warrant to Henry and family from Numatic.

 

[rolls_rapide]

I didn't mean that P&G were British. But they did take over a British detergent firm, Thomas Hedley, makers of Fairy Snow.

I meant that in order to gain the Royal Warrant, usually the supplier has to be seen to be making their product on British soil, and the product has to be of good quality - and they're not allowed to 'spill the beans' on Royal patronage.

A bit like USA Hoover opening in the UK as Hoover Ltd, then Hoover Ltd gets royal patronage and thus the warrant. Then Candy takes over Hoover Ltd and shifts production to 'far flung shores' - thus not 'built in Britain' anymore, so they lose the warrant.

 

[iej]

There's actually no specific requirement to manufacture in the UK, just supply one of the 'senior' members of the royal household - i.e. the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh or the Prince of Wales.

the list includes for example : Cartier, Champagne Bollinger S/A, Champagne Lanson Pere et Fille, Champagne Moet & Chandon, Champign Veuve Cliquot (none of those are anything but French)
Samsung Electronics Co., Swarovski Optik (Austria).

All you have to do is supply the royal household within the last 12 months. However, it's usually 5-years and they've actually implemented a whole load of guidelines on corporate ethics and sustainability.

Since 2015, it actually covers governance : social / environmental issues and how well embedded this is into the businesses.
Environmental management : chemicals, energy use, transport, waste, water etc.
Social management : human rights and labour standards.

Then other areas like animal welfare, cotton production standards, endangered species, fish / marine, leather production, use of palm oil and bio fuels (and how they're produced i.e. sustainable or not?0, Peat, Previous stones,, minerals, timber, paper etc.

They seem to be trying to move it towards being a far more all-encompassing quality approval mark that really represents a high standard. I would suspect Charles is having a fairly significant influence on that.

P&G still seem to be listed as royal warrant holders, but it's possible they just use it on their corporate branding or something like that and have stopped applying the logo to individual products.

Or, maybe the T&Cs apply the warrant only to product produced by P&G UK, and I think most of their products aren't produced in the UK. I'm not sure where Fairy's produced, but it looks very similar to Dreft on the continent and Ariel liquids are definitely produced in France.

The exact origin of those kinds of products is hard to pin down as they're often the same base formula which could be made somewhere and then it's just locally packed from tankers or, it may even be locally packed and blended with a fragrance or some very localised product characteristic and packed.

Sometimes they're classified as Netherlands or the UK on the barcode, but they are clearly made somewhere else too. They just seem to be barcoded at whatever major logistics facility they pass through.

 

[spoodles]

I think UK Fairy liquid bottles have just had a slight logo redesign as it's now similar to the logo used on their dishwasher tablets and Fairy liquid sold in other European countries. Dishwasher tablets were updated a couple of years ago and the Royal Warrant wasn't used in the re-design. They probably just want the same design on all products. Fairy liquid is still made in the UK but it wouldn't matter if it wasn't.

Unilever's Comfort also has a Royal Warrant but it isn't shown on the packaging either.