Lipton tea, which emerged in the 19th century, was initially intended only for the aristocracy. However, later, through Thomas Lipton’s entrepreneurial efforts, it became accessible to the general public. He packaged Ceylon tea in quarter-pound blocks and managed to sell the high-quality product at an affordable price for a wide range of consumers. The Lipton brand has endured global challenges such as World Wars. Starting as a simple store, the brand has now evolved into a worldwide company. Nevertheless, it has also faced modern challenges. Notably, the 2008 Chinese milk crisis sparked serious debates surrounding Lipton.
The roots of the brand can be traced back to a grocery business founded by Scottish shopkeeper Thomas Lipton. By the 1880s, he had transformed his small grocery store into a trading empire with over 200 branches in major British urban centers.
Lipton’s evolution into a trusted brand, known for delivering quality products throughout Great Britain, strengthened its position during the major consolidation process in the country’s retail sector.
In 1929, while retaining its brand identity, Lipton joined the Allied Suppliers consortium, merging with leading chains such as Home and Colonial. This large alliance, which united more than three thousand stores, paved the way for the formation of modern food retail in Britain and marked the beginning of a new stage in the retail industry.
In the 1880s, aiming to further expand his successful food empire, Thomas Lipton added tea to the product range in his store. He began offering consumers high-quality tea at affordable prices by purchasing it directly from “tea gardens” at his new plantations in Ceylon.
While tea was considered a beverage exclusively for the upper classes at that time, Lipton marketed this exclusive product in innovative quarter-pound packages, promoting through advertising that it was for everyone and delivered directly.
Lipton’s mass tea imports and clever marketing strategy brought this drink out of aristocratic circles and into a broader consumer base.
Although Lipton later became a global brand within Unilever, the quarter-pound Ceylon tea packages established by Thomas Lipton remain one of the key cornerstones of the brand’s success to this day.
Unilever and Lipton: Global Dominance through Strategic Acquisition
The process of Unilever’s gradual acquisition of the Lipton brand began in 1938 when Unilever initially acquired Lipton’s operations in the US and Canadian markets. Gradually gaining full control of the brand, Unilever completed the process of fully acquiring Lipton in 1972. This strategic process, which lasted more than 30 years, was part of Unilever’s long-term plan to strengthen its position in the large food and beverage market.
By the 1880s, Lipton tea had achieved a turnover of 80 million pounds sterling. Although Unilever incorporated Lipton into its portfolio, the brand continued to develop over many years while preserving Thomas Lipton’s principles and unique legacy.
Unilever and PepsiCo: A revolutionary partnership in the ready-to-drink beverage market
In 1991, Unilever and PepsiCo established a joint venture targeting this market, capitalizing on the growing consumer demand for ready-to-drink tea. Through this strategic partnership, both companies’ combined their expertise to enter the canned and bottled tea products segment.
This agreement went down in history as a significant partnership between one of the largest food industry conglomerates and the most prestigious carbonated beverage producer of the last century. It was one of the first successful attempts by major companies to join forces on a global scale to enter the emerging beverage market.
While such joint ventures are common today, the 1991 partnership between Unilever and PepsiCo marked an innovative turn in the market for iced and bottled tea drinks.
Initially operating only in certain regions of North America, this initiative later expanded under the name Pepsi Lipton International, shaping future trends in the global beverage industry.
Crisis
In 2008, suspicions of melamine contamination in Chinese dairy products raised serious concerns about global food safety. In the wake of this controversy, the British-Dutch giant Unilever faced a major crisis, forcing it to withdraw Lipton milk tea powder products across East Asia from the market because they contained potentially harmful Chinese milk powder.
The mass withdrawal of these products from the market caused distrust and anxiety among consumers and retail chains.
Although the Chinese government took stringent measures to restore market confidence and ensure food safety following the controversy, the 2008 crisis remained one of the significant events that exposed the risks in the Lipton brand’s international supply, production, and distribution system.
Conflict with PETA
In 2011, PETA, an animal rights organization, exposed Unilever’s practice of testing Lipton tea ingredients on animals. This revelation sparked widespread public outrage. PETA exerted pressure on the company through a petition that gathered over 40,000 signatures, demanding the cessation of animal testing procedures.
As the wave of protests intensified, PETA launched a large-scale campaign dubbed “Lipton CruelTEA,” posing a serious threat to Unilever. Due to mounting pressure from investors and consumers, the company was compelled to abandon its controversial testing practices.
While large multinational corporations are typically reluctant to hastily alter their policies under external pressure, the strategic pressure applied by PETA against Lipton went down in history as one of the rare instances where Unilever changed its course in a short period of time.
This controversy once again ignited global debates about the ethical acceptability of animal testing in corporate activities. However, Unilever’s swift concession became one of the examples demonstrating that active public pressure can indeed influence the policy decisions of large companies.
Prepared by Zukhrakhon Mansurova
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