P&G, National Geographic and Global Citizen Launch Groundbreaking Series, ACTIVATE: THE GLOBAL CITIZEN MOVEMENT To Drive Action Around Poverty, Inequality and Sustainability

Procter & Gamble and National Geographic’s six-part docuseries ACTIVATE, co-produced by Global Citizen and RadicalMedia, premieres tonight, Thursday, September 5, in the U.S. on National Geographic. Each episode of the six-part series delves into a different issue connected to the root causes of poverty, including sustainable sourcing, criminalization of poverty, disaster relief, girls’ education, plastic waste and the global water crisis. The P&G ACTIVATE overview video can be viewed here.

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The hour-long episodes begin tonight and will air weekly through October 10 in the U.S. and also on National Geographic in 172 countries and 43 languages. Episodes will highlight the work P&G and its brands - Tide, Always, Charmin and Head & Shoulders - are doing with many of its long-time partners, including Save the Children, World Vision, World Wildlife Fund, WEConnect International, and Matthew 25: Ministries, among many others.

“P&G and our brands are committed to using our voice to address critical issues facing our world today,” said Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer of P&G. “We’ve been working on these issues for decades and through ACTIVATE we intend to leverage our broad, global reach of nearly five billion consumers to educate and inspire global citizens.”

P&G has a rich history of leveraging its brands and its people to make the world a better place by helping to solve critical issues related to girls’ education, clean drinking water, disaster relief, sustainability and inequality. Whether it’s the non-profit P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) Program, which has provided more than 15 billion liters of clean water to people in need around the world, or Always’ mission to #EndPeriodPoverty, P&G is using its voice and reach to drive meaningful change.

“We’re proud to work with National Geographic and Global Citizen, as well as their talented artist ambassadors and many longstanding partners who enable people all over the world to use their collective voices to inspire change,” said Allison Tummon Kamphuis, P&G Global Program Leader for Gender Equality and CSDW.

In addition to P&G brands and close partners, ACTIVATE will feature Global Citizen ambassadors and advocates including Hugh Jackman, Common, Usher, Rachel Brosnahan, Gayle King, Bonang Matheba, Darren Criss, Pharrell Williams, Uzo Aduba, Becky G and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

As one of the world’s largest advertisers, P&G is diversifying how it reaches consumers by using original content paired with influential partners to shed light on some of our world’s most pressing topics. The partnership will also include National Geographic and Global Citizen digital headquarters for viewers who would like to dive deeper into the six critical issues highlighted in the series. Viewers will be able to take action on Global Citizen campaigns and learn more about corporate and brand efforts led by Tide, Always, Head & Shoulders and Charmin.

ACTIVATE will premiere in the U.S. on National Geographic on Thursday, September 5 at 10/9c; check your local listings.

More about Each Episode:

ACTIVATE: Eradicating Extreme Poverty
Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019
Hugh Jackman, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Becky G join Global Citizen in campaigns to push world leaders into enacting policy changes that would end extreme poverty around the globe. As Jackman prepares for the organization's massive Central Park festival, Becky G travels to Mexico to amplify Global Citizen's campaign to push companies to support women-owned businesses. Experts describe the state of extreme poverty around the world, the enormous progress that's been made in the past 20 years and innovative solutions being implemented across the globe, including P&G and its Charmin brand's responsible sourcing efforts.

ACTIVATE: Ending Cash Bail
Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019
Artists and activists Common and Usher team up with Global Citizen and grassroots organizers as they attempt to achieve historic criminal justice reform by ending the use of cash bail in New York state. P&G’s commitment to addressing racial bias via the 2017 film, The Talk, and new film, The Look, is explored through the filmmakers who’ve recreated how bias is still encountered in the everyday experiences of African Americans.

ACTIVATE: Education Cannot Wait
Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019
Emmy Award-winning actor Rachel Brosnahan teams up with Global Citizen and travels to the border of Peru to see what happens to children's education during conflicts and natural disasters. After an emotional experience with displaced families, Brosnahan and Global Citizen return to the U.S., where they urge Ireland, the U.K. and the U.S. to pledge millions to Education Cannot Wait, a global fund for education during crises. Experts describe the disproportionate impact that natural disasters and conflict have on developing countries and ways people and brands around the world, like Tide, are providing effective relief during emergencies.

ACTIVATE: Keeping Girls in School
Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019
Priyanka Chopra Jonas joins Global Citizen and activists around the globe as they campaign to break down barriers to girls' education. Meanwhile, Gayle King and Bonang Matheba rally tens of thousands of people to call on the South African government to commit $58 million toward ending "period poverty" and providing girls with the menstrual education and resources they need to stay in school and stay confident. Experts describe the broad range of issues that keep girls from getting an education in developing countries, and the enormous progress that's being made around the world, like the work by feminine care product brand Always to provide free educational resources.

ACTIVATE: Ending Plastic Pollution
Premieres: Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019
Pharrell Williams joins Global Citizen's push to get governments, companies and individuals to solve the ocean plastic pollution crisis. Meanwhile, Darren Criss travels to the Philippines to witness plastic's impact on people living in extreme poverty and calls on global citizens to urge their mayors to commit their cities to zero-waste futures. Experts describe the disproportionate impact of plastic pollution on people in developing countries and the ways people and brands, like Head & Shoulders, are working to solve the problem around the world.

ACTIVATE: Clean Water
Premieres: Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019
"Orange Is the New Black" star Uzo Aduba joins Global Citizen as they rally millions around the world to push for clean drinking water and proper sanitation for the world's most vulnerable people. They travel to Aduba's parents' homeland of Nigeria, where they urge governors to commit state funds to eradicate the contaminated water and open defecation crises. Experts describe the effects of contaminated drinking water on people in developing countries and solutions being implemented around the world, including the P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Program.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always^®, Ambi Pur^®, Ariel^®, Bounty^®, Charmin^®, Crest^®, Dawn^®, Downy^®, Fairy^®, Febreze^®, Gain^®, Gillette^®, Head & Shoulders^®, Lenor^®, Olay^®, Oral-B^®, Pampers^®, Pantene^®, SK-II^®, Tide^®, Vicks^® and Whisper^®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.

About National Geographic

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between the National Geographic Society and Disney, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic’s media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children’s media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 131 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About Global Citizen

Since the first Global Citizen Festival in New York in 2012, Global Citizen has grown into one of the largest, most visible platforms for young people around the world calling on world leaders to honor their responsibilities in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and ending extreme poverty by 2030. Global Citizens have generated commitments and policy announcements from leaders valued at over $37.9 billion that are set to affect the lives of more than 2.25 billion people. The organization has taken its action-based model to South Africa, Australia, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Canada, and created a platform for activists to learn about the issues they care most about, take action and earn rewards for doing so.

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Contact information

P&G Media
Julie deSylva, 513-780-0006