Transparent and responsible communication

We are committed to responsible marketing communication. This aims to help consumers make informed decisions around their buying and consumption. We strive to ensure that our communication encourages responsible consumption, does not target children under 16, and that our packaging provides nutritional transparency. We also endeavor to support parents and guardians in making the right dietary and lifestyle choices for children. These commitments reflect the importance we attach to addressing a growing consumer and social focus on health and nutrition.

Complying with applicable laws governing marketing communication to children is also an integral part of our commitment. If applicable laws set stricter requirements than our Responsible Marketing Policy or signed industry pledges, they are adopted.

Global concerns over health have initiated a rise in legislation aimed at restricting consumption of foods high in fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS). These laws often concern advertising restrictions, in-store location restrictions, and product labeling. We aim to deliver on our growth ambitions, whilst ensuring compliance with such legislation, through a strategy of promoting responsible consumption, transparent nutritional labeling, and responsible, compliant in-store and marketing practices. Our subsidiaries are responsible for ensuring compliance with local HFSS legislation and taking action accordingly.

Responsible marketing

Lindt & Sprüngli’s Responsible Marketing Policy outlines our principles and standards and was updated in 2023. Our commitments extend beyond legal requirements and the Policy holds us accountable for how we market our products. Its scope covers our commitment to being transparent, non-exploitative, and not encouraging irresponsible behaviors in three areas: avoiding advertising to children, encouraging responsible consumption, and providing transparent nutritional information.

Advertising to children

We commit ourselves to avoiding advertising our products directly to children in the absence of parental or other adult supervision. As of July 1, 2023, Lindt & Sprüngli voluntarily strengthened its responsible marketing practices by raising the age threshold from 13 to 16. We commit to not advertising our products in media where at least 30% of the audience is made up of children under 16, and do not engage in any communication related to our products in primary or secondary schools.

Encouraging responsible consumption

We do not encourage or show excessive consumption in our advertising. For example, the portions shown do not exceed recommended sizes and there is no portrayal of unhealthy or inappropriate consumption of our products.

Providing transparent nutritional information

We are committed to displaying clear and easily understandable nutritional information and calorie guidelines and to continuously seeking to simplify our ingredient lists. For products that have a risk of containing common allergens, we make sure that these are highlighted in the ingredients with bold type and add a clear warning about any traces of specific allergens the products may contain.

Industry activities

Lindt & Sprüngli participates in industry activities aimed at furthering responsible advertising to consumers. Examples are those carried out by the EU Pledge, a voluntary initiative by leading food and beverage companies at a European level and, as of 2023, activities of the BBB National Programs' Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) in the United States. Under both of these industry pledges, Lindt & Sprüngli is one of the companies that commits not to advertise to children under 13 years. We also abide by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Code of Advertising and Marketing Communication Practice, and the ICC Framework for Responsible Food and Beverage Marketing Communications in our marketing communication.

Our approach applies to all marketing communication channels, including television, radio, print, cinema, online (including company-owned websites and company-owned social media profiles), direct marketing, product placement, interactive games, outdoor marketing, DVDs/movies, as well as mobile and SMS marketing.

Adherence to our industry pledge commitments is audited through the pledges we participate in. Through the EU Pledge initiative, our television and digital marketing programs must undergo an annual third-party compliance audit in selected European markets. This is conducted by Ebiquity and the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA). In 2023, the EU Pledge third-party television audit was conducted in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain. At the same time the digital EU Pledge monitoring was carried out in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. As part of the CFBAI pledge, our television communication in the US is also audited annually. The television audit is conducted by BBB National Programs using data from third-party provider Nielsen. 

In addition, we run audits in countries outside the EU and United States, conducted by third-party provider Ebiquity. These audits focus on our television advertising spending, which accounts for over half of our media expenditure. They are conducted in three countries per year and the countries selected are rotated every year to ensure a wide coverage. In 2023, audits were performed in the UK, Australia and Canada.

In 2023, Lindt & Sprüngli achieved 99.4% compliance with the EU Pledge commitments regarding television advertising overall and 100% compliance for daytime television advertising. Digital tracking indicated that our brand-owned websites, social media profiles, and influencer profiles were 100% compliant. The CFBAI TV compliance monitoring for 2023 found 99.9% overall compliance for Lindt and Ghirardelli with the CFBAI Pledge commitments. Russel Stover had no TV airings in the timeframe of the audit. Compliance results for digital media for 2023 under the CFBAI Pledge were still pending at the time this report was finalized. Both industry pledges’ audits were still based on our previous commitment not to advertise to children under 13 years. The additional audits in the UK, Australia, and Canada, conducted after July 1, 2023, already took into consideration our increased commitment not to advertise to children under 16 (effective as of July 1, 2023). The results showed that 98.1% of our TV advertising was compliant with our commitments. As of 2024, it is our intent to also audit a selection of European markets as well as the US with regards to our enhanced commitment. Additionally, no deviations or incidents were reported in any other countries regarding advertising to children, nor any non-compliance with national or international laws concerning marketing communication.

Ensuring nutritional transparency

Providing product information, including nutrition information, for online and offline sales purposes is increasingly important. We monitor regulatory developments regarding the labeling of products and trends in consumer information.

Employees involved in external marketing communication and product labeling receive specific training related to Lindt & Sprüngli’s Responsible Marketing Policy at least bi-annually, and whenever the policy is updated. For consumers, we provide easy access to information on all of our products through our website, social media channels, packaging, FAQs on our website, and Consumer Services.

Since April 2023, we have been working on a global initiative for the Group to consider our future strategy for consumer health and nutrition, whilst complying with increased legislation on consumer health and nutrition. The strategy aims to cover various elements, such as availability in stores, marketing activities, as well as efforts to gradually decrease our ingredient list to the minimum necessary and reduce artificial additives in our products.