Can companies like Unilever and Pepsi help make us healthier? This week at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, corporate insiders reflect on their role in creating a healthy society.
For five years, pushed to make PepsiCo 鈥� the brand behind munchies like Lays and Cheetos 鈥� a producer of healthier, lower sodium, lower sugar foods and beverages. The responses were both sweet and salty.
鈥淭here are parts of a company where the support and awareness of the needs to change are very high,鈥� Yach reflects. 鈥淏ut of course there were many who isolated me.鈥�
Yach was brought on by Pepsico鈥檚 CEO, who he says saw the potential of a multinational to influence public health with different products.
鈥淲hile I was there I saw the growth of hummus,鈥� Yach says, 鈥淭he launch of dairy products for the first time yogurt, and we saw a range of other healthier products being tested.鈥�
Still, the company wasn鈥檛 willing to invest as much into research and new products as Yach had hoped. Yach is now with a health research group called , but says unlikely companies are coming together with an interest in health and prevention.
鈥淭hey include companies like Samsung, Microsoft, General Electric, small startups,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e looking of a root to profitability through new products to promote better health, through whether its devices or smart phones or alerts or adherence. And they鈥檙e looking at how it鈥檚 going to benefit the bottom line and people鈥檚 personal health.鈥�
Power From Behind The Counter
Rather than wait for consensus or expect the government to lead, drugstore chain CVS is trying to make healthy what鈥檚 behind its counters. In October, CVS will stop selling tobacco products all together, wiping out an estimated $2 billion a year in sales.
, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of CVS, says it will be only a short-term loss.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e creative, you鈥檒l be creative to the bottom line,鈥� Brennan says. 鈥淭aking two billion out now, long-term that鈥檚 going to be a smart decision.鈥�
He admits a lot of people were holding their breath before the announcement, expecting the stock to drop. Instead, Brennan says, it went up.
鈥淲e鈥檙e beginning to know we have to do something to take better care of ourselves. Companies that do those sorts of things, I think consumers are attracted to that and that鈥檚 the business interest.鈥�
Across the pond, supermarket chain Tesco is also trying to nudge customers towards healthier decisions. By the end of the year in grocery and convenience stores.
Many more corporations are turning inwards and focusing first on wellness among employees.
Derek Yach of the Vitality Institute says whether companies are changing products in stores or implementing health programs for workers, evaluation by a third-party will be key to understanding what works.
鈥淭he win will come through seeing whether the companies who do the right thing will see the uplift on the share price over the long term,鈥� he says.
