Washington, D.C. – March 22, 2021 – New research from the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) finds nearly 13% of Americans are not storing liquid laundry packets in their original child resistant containers.
A simple search on popular social media platforms, like Pinterest, show hundreds of trending images encouraging followers to display laundry packets and detergents as décor in glass or plastic jars – a home organization decision that could put curious kids at risk for potential poison exposures.
In response, ACI has launched the #StoreNotDecor Challenge to help families recognize unsafe storage trends and raise awareness of the importance of laundry safety.
To combat the rise of this unsafe home organization fad on social media that sacrifices safe storage, the #StoreNotDecor Challenge calls on Americans to identify unsafe images online, spark conversation about laundry room safety and ultimately “change the picture” on proper storage to reduce the risk of unintentional poison exposures.
The #StoreNotDecor Challenge will be powered by a variety of digital influencers across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Pinterest encouraging followers to participate.
“The growing trend on social media displaying detergent as décor is concerning. Many households display their liquid laundry packets and other laundry detergents in clear, glass or plastic jars, opening the door for potential accidental exposures that are easily prevented if proper storage techniques are followed,” said Brian Sansoni, ACI Senior Vice President, Communications and Outreach.
“Through our #StoreNotDecor Challenge, we urge Americans to keep safety top of mind with any home organization or improvement project and highlight the built-in safety innovations of the product packaging that serve to deter accidents and prevent accidental exposures.”
The #StoreNotDecor Challenge is part of the Packets Up! campaign, an industry effort working to help reduce the number of unintended exposures to liquid laundry packets among children and vulnerable adults. Now in its ninth year, the Packets Up! campaign works to educate parents and caregivers on the importance of proper use and storage of liquid laundry packets and other household cleaners.
For more information and tools to help prevent accidental liquid laundry packets exposures, visit PacketsUp.com.
###
The American Cleaning Institute® (ACI – www.cleaninginstitute.org) is the Home of the U.S. Cleaning Products Industry® and represents the $60 billion U.S. cleaning product supply chain. ACI members include the manufacturers and formulators of soaps, detergents, and general cleaning products used in household, commercial, industrial and institutional settings; companies that supply ingredients and finished packaging for these products; and chemical distributors. ACI serves the growth and innovation of the U.S. cleaning products industry by advancing the health and quality of life of people and protecting our planet. ACI achieves this through a continuous commitment to sound science and being a credible voice for the cleaning products industry.
These findings emerged from an Ipsos poll conducted February 16 – 17, 2021 on behalf of the American Cleaning Institute. For the survey, a sample of 1,005 adults ages 18 and over from the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii was interviewed online in English. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for all respondents.
