Unilever’s Persil brand is adding Accessible QR codes (AQR) to the packaging of some of its cleaning products to provide the UK’s 2 million blind and partially sighted people with better access to product information.
The new QR codes, created by Zappar working with Unilever and in collaboration with the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People), can be detected by any apps that integrate the technology.
The technology works by adding additional markings around existing QR codes, improving the detectability. With the code front of pack, accessibility apps can detect the product from over one metre away, providing information such as ‘laundry detergent’ as well as more detailed product information such as usage information, how to open the box, safety warnings and recycling information as the shopper gets closer.
The information presented is provided in a structured way designed with blind and partially sighted users in mind and interacts with the device’s configured accessibility features, displaying information in larger text or via audio.
Persil’s laundry capsules in plastic-free packaging and its Ultimate Liquids range will feature the AQR codes from the end of this month with roll out to its full range by the end of next year.
“Although QR codes have been in mainstream use almost 30 years now, they have lacked the important ingredient of accessibility,” said Zappar CEO and co-founder Caspar Thykier. “This is really about helping make a small but important everyday quality-of-life improvement in people’s lives.”
Unilever, RNIB and Zappar hope to use the initiative to make accessible product information a standard for all packaging design.
“For us, this is bigger than Unilever, and we see it as a first step in helping make packaging more accessible for everyone,” said Unilever’s Laundry Marketing Director, Nadine Slyper.
“We’re pleased to be exploring Accessible QR codes as a business and hope to see other companies and accessibility apps join in this conversation.”
Unilever plans to add AQR codes to other products in the UK and globally in the year ahead.
