AN UPDATE TO OUR HEALTHCARE POLICY
July 1, 2022
At Pernod Ricard USA we believe that it is our responsibility to enable our employees and their families to live healthy lives, which includes equal access to high quality medical care. Effective July 1, all Pernod Ricard USA employees enrolled in our Aetna health care plan are eligible for travel reimbursement of up to an annual maximum of $10,000 for any medical procedure if there is no available provider within 100 miles of their home. This policy ensures that the availability of our existing benefits continues, including equal access to reproductive healthcare services for our team members who work in every corner of our country.
TODAY OUR FIGHT AGAINST ONLINE HATE SPEECH IS TRANSITIONING LEADERSHIP TO THE INDUSTRY
September 17, 2021
As the industry continues to come together to combat online hate speech, advertising industry leaders the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) announced plans to scale #EngageResponsibly (#ER) later this year. #EngageResponsibly is an initiative seeded by Pernod Ricard, donated to the ANA, and combined with GARM to create an industry-wide initiative. This expanded effort will harness the power and reach of big brands and social media platforms to engage and empower small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) and consumers. The goal is to combat online hate speech through education and action. This includes responsible social media dialog and behaviors and using social platforms’ tools for reporting online hate speech incidents.
“More than 80% of Americans feel responsible for being part of the solution to tackle online hate speech. We know that more than 65% of SMBs want to take an active role in addressing online hate speech, but need tools and resources to guide their efforts,” said Bob Liodice, CEO, ANA. “With this initiative, the ANA will bring together the industry to educate and inspire consumers to act. We will provide the industry with a turnkey, no-cost solution that matches the brand safety protocols used by those organizations committed to responsible advertising under the GARM framework. Our announcement today is a call for all those who care about online hate to join our efforts.”
“WFA launched the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) to harness the power of marketers and the broader industry collective to drive positive change in online environments. In partnership with the ANA, #EngageResponsibly advances this vital GARM work to improve brand safety on the critical issue of online hate speech. Together as an industry, we must come together to tackle online hate speech not only for the betterment of our industry, but in the interest of society,” said Stephan Loerke, CEO, World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).
“GARM’s purpose is to bring cross-industry stakeholders together, including the social media platforms, to address safety online,” said Rob Rakowitz, Initiative Lead for GARM. “Scaling an initiative like #EngageResponsibly empowers SMBs and consumers to join our efforts focused on education and action including how people and businesses can report and help remove online hate speech. Importantly, we plan to work closely with GARM’s NGO partners and other NGOs throughout the efforts. This is a major milestone in our journey to continually reduce the existence of hateful content online.”
ANA will lead the #EngageResponsibly business system harnessing the expertise of GARM, Brand Safety Institute (BSI) and ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) to deliver across key actions as follows.
Central to the efforts will be development of robust educational resources to help SMBs and consumers understand the issue of online hate speech, its linkage to real-world violence, and how to take action including using platforms' existing tools to report online hate speech and, for SMBs, how to manage brand safety.
A corresponding campaign will launch in conjunction to inspire SMBs and consumers to engage with the education and take action. The campaign will leverage platforms’ and brands’ channels to extend reach. Ongoing events and programming, starting with a kickoff event, will bring together industry leaders, NGOs, big brands, SMBs, platforms, influencers and consumers to educate and play an active role in eliminating online hate speech.
To galvanize the industry and set a strong foundation in advance of the education and campaign launch, ANA and GARM will be asking companies to sign a pledge to provide support and tangible actions to combat online hate speech.
#EngageResponsibly is led by ANA and GARM, with Ann Mukherjee, Chairman and CEO, Pernod Ricard NA, and Ivan Pollard, former General Mills CMO, serving as co-chairs. Pernod Ricard initiated #EngageResponsibly in 2020 and made initial investments in solutions for marketers and consumers to work in collaboration with platforms to stop the spread of online hate speech.
“We’re proud to have seeded #EngageResponsibly, and we’re thrilled to see ANA and GARM make it an industry-wide initiative,” said Ann Mukherjee, Chairman and CEO, Pernod Ricard NA. “Online hate speech is not a hypothetical problem. Every day, thousands of hate-fueled conversations happen on social media. According to ADL, 35% of Americans have experienced online hate due to racial, religious, or sexual identity. It’s a tremendous threat to public health, especially for adolescents. As advertisers, we cannot ask people to engage with us on social platforms, and then absolve ourselves of accountability for the hate they may experience there. This is our Return on Responsibility.”
Addressing the problem at scale is core to the newly-expanded initiative. Piloting in the U.S., the ambition is to expand #EngageResponsibly in the future as the first globally scalable solution for big brands, SMBs and consumers to fight online hate speech. “Given their social media presence, SMBs are a tremendous ecosystem through which to scale efforts to drastically reduce hate online,” said Ivan Pollard, former CMO of General Mills. “And we all know that passionate consumers have the ability to move mountains and change the world. Together, we will transform this initiative into a powerful, global movement to combat online hate speech.”
“Marketers have a tremendous opportunity to make a difference for their brand, their business and the world. #EngageResponsibly provides the opportunity for brands to drive positive change by reducing online hate speech and its harmful effects in the real world,” said Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Mastercard.
“Brands and businesses of all sizes, along with platforms and consumers, can all play a role in drastically reducing online hate speech. #EngageResponsibly empowers each of us to be a part of the solution,” said Jacqui Stephenson, Global Responsible Marketing Officer, Mars Wrigley.
#EngageResponsibly is being developed collaboratively with platforms—Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and Snap—led by the ANA within the GARM environment.
"The #EngageResponsibly program marks another milestone for the Global Alliance for Responsible Media’s continued progress to bring the industry together through action. We’re looking forward to collaborating on educating consumers and small businesses on how to combat online hate," said Samantha Stetson, VP Client Council and Industry Trade Relations, Facebook.
"Hate has no place on our platform. At TikTok we continually work to maintain a supportive environment that enables our community to focus on what matters to them: being creative, finding community, and having fun. Our goal is to create a safe space where people support and lift each other up. We are excited to continue our partnership with GARM and have an opportunity to support an initiative like #EngageResponsibly," said Julie de Bailliencourt, Global Head of Product Policy, TikTok.
“Responsibility is our number one priority, and we are committed to working with the industry to build a sustainable and healthy digital ecosystem for everyone. We have been actively partnering with GARM since its inception, and we support their ongoing work to address safety online through initiatives like #EngageResponsibly,” said Debbie Weinstein, Vice President, Global Solutions, YouTube.
“Everyone has a role to play in keeping the digital ecosystem safe, whether it’s a business or individual. Never has it been more important to come together as one and continue to build on the momentum we have achieved thus far. We look forward to expanding upon the work that is being done to combat online hate and ensure people and brands feel safe in all of the digital places they spend time on,” said Meg Haley, Global Head, Revenue Product Specialists, Twitter.
“We are proud to join this first-of-its kind, industry-wide effort to #EngageResponsibly and unite around our shared commitment to fight online hate. From the beginning, we’ve tried to be thoughtful about the architecture of Snapchat and designed our products to prioritize communication between close friends and prevent opportunities for unmoderated content to get reach. We believe we’re in a moment where tech companies need to take stock of their policies and the design of their platforms to strengthen the ability to detect, combat, and prevent hate speech at scale. We are grateful to GARM and ANA for their leadership and look forward to identifying ways we can all do our part to create safer and healthier environments for our communities,” said Nona Farahnik Yadegar, Director, Platform Policy, Snap.
OUR COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
June 18, 2021
At Pernod Ricard USA, we are deeply committed to the long-term sustainability of our people, our industry and our planet. We call this ROR – our return on responsibility – which, for us, is just as important as ROI – the return on investment we deliver.
This is about winning the future by creating shared success for all of our stakeholders, an ambition that guides our business and brands every step of the way. That is why we are on a journey to become the most diverse, inclusive and sustainable spirits and wine company in the U.S. We still have a long way to go, but are proud of the progress we have made so far.
OUR JOURNEY TOWARDS CREATING A MORE INCLUSIVE SOCIETY
In June 2020, we announced five commitments toward greater diversity and inclusion. We know that transparency and accountability are critical components of this work, so today we would like to share the progress we have made over the past 12 months.
1. Create more diversity, transparency and governance within the organization.
In early 2021, Pernod Ricard launched a Global D&I function and strategy, an important action that demonstrates our global commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and ensures we have the support and resources available to advance and track our progress. We are actively recruiting a diversity leader for North America, and recently created a D&I Council that works with our employee resource group (ERG) leaders and D&I committees in the region. We also formed a new Multicultural & Inclusive Marketing function, responsible for ensuring our marketing reflects our increasingly diverse marketplace.
In order to help our ERG communities grow, we have provided several development sessions for leaders so they can expand their communities and maximize their impact. At the same time, we created a new ERG for veterans, bringing us to a total of six groups advocating for the needs of diverse employee communities within the company. They specifically represent individuals who are, or are allies of, LGBTQ+, Black, LatinX, Asian Pacific Islander, Womxn and Veterans communities.
2. Develop implicit bias training for all employees.
We know that leaders drive an inclusive culture, so we are requiring all people leaders to attend a comprehensive and interactive inclusive leadership training. In addition, through our forums and Diversity & Inclusion week, we have provided transparency on our recruitment and talent processes, hosted guest speakers from our global D&I team and brought in external expertise to help all of our employees learn about microaggressions and stereotypes.
3. Diversify our talent landscape in an effort to be more representative of our marketplace.
Bringing in the best diverse talent is a top priority, which is why we are leveraging tools that help us eliminate bias in the recruitment process, such as gamified assessments, training over 200 leaders on behavioral-based interviewing and providing standardized interview guides.
4. Increase diversity within our agency and supplier sourcing.
We have developed a new supplier diversity program, which will launch this fall. We will share more information as this becomes available, but have already begun to make progress on this initiative, partnering with GroupM as part of the Media Inclusion Initiative, a pledge to spend at least 2% of total annual media budgets in Black-owned media companies.
5. Partner with organizations that directly impact and support communities of color and tackle pressing social issues.
Over the past year, we made over $3.5 million in investments in non-profit organizations including AALDEF, ADL, National Urban League, Equal Justice Initiative, National Black Chamber of Commerce, RAINN and the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation.
Moreover, this spring we aligned our giving externally to our work internally, making an additional $1MM donation in total across organizations selected by our six ERGs. By extending and building partnerships with organizations like AALDEF, VetJobs, National Urban League, Women in Hospitality United, Women of the Vine & Spirits, GLAAD and Hispanic Heritage Foundation, we are supporting their critical work towards creating a more inclusive society.
In May of 2021, we signed the pledge created by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) to call on the marketing and advertising industry in taking a stand against the hate and violence targeting the AAPI community. The alliance is committed to inform, educate, engage, and invest by driving actions to advance justice and support for the AAPI community.
In addition, understanding the detrimental impact of hate-speech to our society, we seeded #EngageResponsibly, an initiative for marketers and consumers to work in collaboration with platforms to stop the spread of hate online.
We will review and evolve our D&I commitments as we continue on our journey to become the most diverse, inclusive and sustainable spirits and wine company in the U.S.
If you are interested in learning about our commitment to Environmental Sustainability, please visit this page.
FIGHTING RACIAL INJUSTICE
June 5, 2020
The time for words is over. We must ACT to support racial justice and equality.
Pernod Ricard USA stands in solidarity with the Black community. We are committed to fighting racism and supporting communities of color. At times like these, actions speak louder than words. We must do more than state our support – we must take real, demonstrable action.
That’s why we are donating a total of $1MM to combat racial injustice and promote economic prosperity for black-owned businesses.
We’re proud to make this donation, but we know this amount is modest compared to the true need. We also acknowledge that we and the spirits and wine industry have a long way to go.
These actions are just the beginning. At Pernod Ricard USA we are on a journey to become the most inclusive, diverse and sustainable spirits & wine company in the U.S. I am passionately committed to helping transform both our company and industry to truly mirror the diversity of our society and to become an inclusive environment for all.
Ann Mukherjee, CEO, Pernod Ricard NA
TAKING ACTION
Actions speak louder than words. That’s why Pernod Ricard USA is donating a total of $1 million to combat racial injustice and promote economic prosperity for black-owned businesses.
We are donating the amount between three organizations:
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
National Black Chamber of Commerce
The National Black Chamber of Commerce® is dedicated to economically empowering and sustaining African American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity within the United States and via interaction with the Black Diaspora.
To help African Americans and others in underserved communities achieve their highest true social parity, economic self- reliance, power, and civil rights. The League promotes economic empowerment through education and job training, housing and community development, workforce development, entrepreneurship, health, and quality of life.
Pernod Ricard USA is calling on our distributor partners and other spirits & wine producers to join us in taking action to fight racial inequity and injustice. We’re inspired by our partners at Republic National Distributing Company who have already committed to joining our efforts, as well as our partners at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits who are directly supporting initiatives to combat racial injustice through a donation to Equal Justice Initiative.
Through our Better Balance initiative, we are working to improve our organization from the inside, to reflect the communities we serve and create an even more inclusive culture.
Lastly, we will continue to use our platform on brands like Martell and Avion, amplifying voices of artists, cultural leaders, and others in communities of color so their stories can be heard.
These modest actions are just the beginning.
We CAN and WILL do better. Together. Join us.