Local players in personal care industry cry foul

Local players in the beauty and personal care industry have raised a howl over what they call "unfair" trade practices being resorted to by some multinational corporations.

An industry source accused giant global companies of using their resources to bully the competition and tilt the playing field in their favor.

The same source said these multinational firms have resorted to unfair trade practices that would not even be acceptable in their countries of origin.

According to the source, merchandising or in-store display has been increasingly used to spoil the shelf display of leading local players through the wanton placement of large banners or posters that hide the competing products from the full view of consumers.

"The sheer size of the banner or poster tends to deflect the consumers attention from the products that are on shelf. In other countries, this could constitute an unfair trade practice," the same source said.

This unfair trade practice was actually first tried in tri-media advertisements where, instead of focusing on their products’ attributes and benefits, these foreign companies instead tried to sow fear by blowing unsubstantiated negative claims out of proportion. "Creating fear in the minds of consumers by exaggerating unsubstantiated claims, these foreign companies are really engaging in unethical action, in a smear campaign. These foreign companies just would not stop. They have gone to the extent of lobbying for revisions in product standards, the net effect of which is making some Filipino-made products unavailable to the average Filipino consumers," the source said.

The Philippine beauty and personal care industry has long been dominated by giant foreign companies. In recent years, however, a number of Filipino-owned companies have grown and are now posing serious challenge to the big industry players. Among them are the Splash Group, Godiva and Ever Bilena.