Unilever officials are ending relationships with social media influencers that buy followers as they seek to make advertising more transparent. "There are lots of great influencers out there, but there are a few bad apples spoiling the barrel and the trouble is, everyone goes down once the trust is undermined," said Chief Marketing Officer Keith Weed.
Procter & Gamble is throwing its weight behind #BrandsForGood, a collaborative effort that encourages consumers to practice sustainable living. Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard said the company is committed to using P&G brands and companies "as a force for good and a force for growth."
Polyurethane and polyvinyl chloride from China will face a 25% import duty beginning July 6 as part of recent tariffs announced by President Donald Trump. China's retaliatory tariffs will affect goods such as polyethers.
The Environmental Protection Agency this week released guidance to help manufacturers prepare accurate and easy-to-review pre-manufacture notices.
LyondellBasell is building a Hyperzone high-density polyethylene plant in La Porte, Texas, with annual production capacity of 1.1 billion pounds. "The key drivers for this technology were to develop superior products," said company official Gabriele Mei.
Air Products has opened a $350 million industrial gas plant in Texas that will service Covestro and other customers along Air Products' Gulf Coast Pipeline.
Materials Recovery for the Future and a J.P. Mascaro & Sons facility in Pennsylvania will partner on a project for separating flexible plastic packaging from other forms of waste using optical sorters. The American Chemistry Council is a member of Materials Recovery for the Future.
The South African Competition Commission has approved the sale of Unilever South Africa's spreads business to Robertsons, with the condition that ULSA is liable for any fine handed down post-merger related to collusion with Sime Darby Hudson Knight. The commission is seeking to impose a penalty on ULSA equal to 10% of its annual turnover for conspiring to reduce competition in the edible oil market.
China has announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on certain US imports, including soybeans, beginning July 6. The US sold $14 billion worth of soybeans to China last year, as the country depends on soybean meal to sustain its pork industry.
The authors of a 2013 study in the New England Journal of Medicine have retracted their research linking the Mediterranean diet to a decreased risk of heart attack and stroke and have issued a revision. Pointing to "irregularities in the randomization procedures," the authors have re-analyzed the data but say the issue only affected 10% of the study's 7,447 participants and stand by their conclusions that a diet rich in olive oil and nuts can decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke by about 30% in high-risk individuals.