Brands
Colgate & Haryana govt launch smile mission for 57 lakh pupils
Statewide school drive aims to build healthy smiles and habits
NEW DELHI: Brighter smiles are set to light up classrooms across Haryana as Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited joins hands with the Government of Haryana to take oral health education to 57 lakh school children.
The collaboration expands Colgate’s flagship Bright Smiles, Bright Futures programme, a global initiative that already reaches more than 10 million children annually across India. Now, Haryana’s pupils are next in line for a lesson that promises to last a lifetime.
At its heart, the partnership weaves structured oral health education directly into both public and private schools across the state. The aim is simple yet ambitious: turn brushing from a chore into second nature, and make preventive care part of everyday school life.
“Ensuring the health and well-being of our children is central to our vision for Haryana’s future,” said Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini. “Through this collaboration, we aim to embed preventive oral hygiene practices among students across the state.”
The programme goes well beyond a one-off awareness talk. It includes engaging, age-appropriate sessions led by trained facilitators, lessons on correct twice-daily brushing, timely toothbrush replacement, nutrition guidance and tobacco prevention awareness.
Every participating school will also install a dedicated Oral Health Board, a daily visual reminder that good habits begin with small, consistent steps. Teachers, meanwhile, will undergo training in dental basics so they can reinforce these lessons long after the initial sessions conclude.
To ensure the message travels home, children will receive take-home dental kits and brushing calendars, nudging families to turn bathroom sinks into hubs of healthy routine.
For Colgate-Palmolive India managing director and chief executive officer Prabha Narasimhan, the initiative signals a shift from conversation to commitment. “By embedding Bright Smiles, Bright Futures into Haryana’s educational framework, we are making preventive care a non-negotiable part of a child’s development,” she said.
The scale is striking. Since its inception, the programme has reached over 195 million children in India and more than 2 billion children and families worldwide. Haryana now joins a growing list of states that have partnered with Colgate to put oral health firmly on the school agenda.
“Preventive health education, when delivered consistently and early, creates ripple effects beyond the classroom,” said Colgate-Palmolive India director for ESG and communications Shilpashree Muniswamappa. “Children become ambassadors of healthy habits within their families and communities.”
The kick-off meeting brought together senior state officials and implementation partners, including representatives from the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation and IIT Ropar’s iHub AWaDH, underlining the public-private push behind the programme.
In a state known for its sporting grit and agricultural strength, the newest goal is refreshingly simple: healthier teeth, happier children and habits that hold firm long after the school bell rings.
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
