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Procter & Gamble's Febreze has smell of
success
By Janet Babin
Marketplace, Wednesday, March 9, 2011
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The air freshener will pass the $1 billion sales mark this week, while
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the rest of the industry continues to see sales decline.
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TEXT OF STORY
KAI RYSSDAL: The recession has taught a lot of us what we can live
without and what we can't. Air freshener, it appears, is in the second
category. One specific brand, in fact.
Procter and Gamble said today that sales of Febreze have hit the
billion-dollar mark, even as other household products are struggling.
Marketplace's Janet Babin reports the housing market may stink,
but when it comes to homes, they have to pass the smell test.
Febreze products. (Febreze)
JANET BABIN: No one really needs air freshener. So how did Procter
and Gamble get Febreze to $1 billion in sales?
It sold itself as more than an air freshener, something that killed odors lurking in sofas and curtains,
stuff that's expensive to actually clean.
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Debra Kaye heads product innovation firm Lucule.
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DEBRA KAYE: And then it came in as a non-aerosol. The product was the message,
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so they had the look of something new, and they had the smell and the cure to
something new.
In all kinds of trendy scents. P&G's Lee Bansil says there are more than 2,000 Febreze products, like:
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Burt Flickinger with the Strategic Resource Group says Febreze sells especially well in Asia.
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BURT FLINKINGER: Products like Febreze smell like America; they smell clean.
Procter & Gamble's Febreze has smell of success
And that can mask a lot of American dirtiness -- from stinky sneakers to a smokin' college dorm room -literally!
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I'm Janet Babin for Marketplace.
Even the price of money is going up
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Greg: thanks for your thoughtful comments on this story. If you'd like more
information about Febreze, please contact the Environmental Working
Group. In 2009, the Group did a study on Febreze. It found the product
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Procter & Gamble's Febreze has smell of success | Marketplace ...
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studied contained 89 ingredients, even though only 5 were listed on the label.
The EWG report stated that two of the ingredients it uncovered were of
concern. This reseach though, does contrast with work done Procter and
Gamble says it has done on Febreze, that shows the product, when used
properly, is safe and effective for humans and pets. The EWG forwarded its
research to the EPA, which is doing some work on household products and
may be another source for you and all of us. The EWG was unable to recall
yesterday what the EPA had to say about its research. Hope this information
helps you. And thanks again for bringing up this point. Best, Janet Babin
Greg Gylten
03/09/2011
I believe that I can keep this product in my "can live without it" list. I'd rather
make the attempt to live in an environment that is actually clean rather than
masked over with some chemical formulation. Any research at all in regards
to the safety of breathing this in or having children climb around on the
sprayed furniture and of course putting their fingers in their mouths?
Or will that come decades later after once again we guinea pigs have ingested
enough of it? Were phalate products a billion dollar industry once? What
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should we value more as a society: health (clean air) and happiness or gross
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because they don't have the latest designer smell saturating their homes. Sells
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