Sunlight brand to bring communities together

A well-known and long-standing corporate entity in Sri Lanka is to wage  a gentle battle to eliminate the fear, hatred and distrust that prevailed in the minds of the people after the April 21 Easter Sunday terrorist attack.

In a move to strengthen the bonds of humanity in Sri Lanka, Unilever Sri Lanka Ltd (USL) is poised to launch the campaign ‘Manudam Viyamana’ through established soap brand Sunlight. 

Shamila Bandara, Unilever Marketing Director – Home Care, Food and Refreshments, in a solemn note opening a media conference on Tuesday at the USL auditorium in Colombo, revealed that they conducted a survey among the people on the issue of the April 21 incident which found that 60 per cent of the people are still gripped with fear, hatred and distrust.

She said that this attempt is something beyond a normal CSR campaign - like a building a community well. It is an attempt to uphold humanity – love to each other, to mend the fear psychosis that ruptured the minds of the people, to symbolically ‘Open Hearts and Open Homes’ in building trust, understanding and care for one another – to encompass the entire nation.  

Reminding that this country is known the world over as a caring and hospitable nation and was just raising its head out of the haunting repercussions of the 30 year-long internal conflict, she indicated that the Easter Sunday terror attacks shook the nation. She said that all similar incidents have torn the social fabric of the people and stressed that harmony among communities is an essential prerequisite. 

Ms. Bandara said: “Stemming from this incident, as a nation we have created reservations in our hearts towards each other, and our legendary hospitality is being tested as homes closed its doors to diverse communities and Sri Lanka closed her doors to unity”.

She said that with a brand purpose to ‘strengthen bonds with care’, and a 135-year-old heritage of trust in the country, Sunlight recognises the importance and the need to reweave the threads of trust in Sri Lanka.

While the brand has been working with various religious and civil organisations to help survivors of these attacks, the emphasis is also on helping the wider 21 million population who were shocked by these events, and this became a priority and led ‘Sunlight’ to give birth to the Manudam Viyamana initiative. 

The others associated at the media conference were Ms. Shamara Silva, Marketing Director, Homecare and Milinda Weerasinghe, Senior Brand Manager -Sunlight. (QP)