Colgate Perception Drops To Fourteen Month Low

Ted MarzilliCEO YouGov Direct
August 20, 2014, 7:12 PM GMT+0

Colgate’s consumer perception reached a 14-month low a little over a week after Bloomberg News revealed their Total toothpaste contains triclosan, which has been linked to cancer-cell growth and disrupted development in animals.

Since the August 11th story, Colgate lost two-thirds of its YouGov BrandIndex Buzz score, which asks respondents: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?" Colgate’s Buzz score dropped from 17 on August 8th to 6 on August 18th. Buzz score is measured on a scale of of -100 to 100 with a zero score equaling positive and negative feedback.

Word of mouth about Colgate has also ticked up about 5 percentage points to 9 currently, although that is not outside of Colgate’s normal range on that metric. One measurement that hasn’t been impacted significantly yet is purchase consideration – about 40% of US adults 18+ say they would consider purchasing from Colgate the next time they are in the store. That is in line with its scores over 2014 to date, indicating that consumers may not be worried about the news or might be waiting to hear if anything more develops before deciding to change their shopping habits.

Colgate was measured with three of YouGov BrandIndex’s scores: the afore-mentioned Buzz, Purchase Consideration (“When you are next in the market to purchase products in this specific category, from which of the following would you consider purchasing?”) and Word of Mouth (“Have you spoken about the brand in the last two weeks, either through social media or in person”). All respondents are adults age 18 and over.

Colgate: Buzz

Colgate: Purchase Consideration