Can you imagine 172 Boeing 747 aircraft being dumped into Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour each year? The weight of these aircraft would be the same as the amount of laundry chemical products consumed by Hong Kong households every year. This piece of information emerged from research commissioned by Ketchum Hong Kong on behalf of Biocera chemical-free washing balls in early 2010.

The research showed that Hong Kong households consumed over 30,000 tonnes of washing powder and softeners each year. Chemicals from these products not only cause serious pollution to the waters of Hong Kong, the residues left on clothing also have a long-term negative impact on people with skin allergies.

Ketchum organized a press conference to announce the research results and invited expert spokespeople from environmental protection, sewage handling, dermatology and the laundry industry to share their comments on the findings and advocate for the use of chemical-fee laundry products to help reduce water pollution and the prevention of skin allergies.

The press conference attracted a full house of journalists from major mass media and generated 46 pieces of coverage in a month in print, online and electronic media, reaching a cumulative audience of over 4.8 million.