For the fifth time, Domestos has launched a photo contest for the worst school toilet in Russia, where the winners are promised to renovate the bathroom. But the photos submitted for the third year were not published. The company removed all images of the toilets for the first time in 2021, after a scandal caused by the dire state of the toilets on social networks. Then only the descriptions of the problem remained on the portal. This year Domestos has published pictures of the façades of the participating schools, but still does not publish photos of the toilets. In previous years, the company did not comment on the disappearance of photos of school toilets from its portal, but now told Domestos socialbites.ca that such a decision was made because it was a “disturbing” issue.
“The prerequisite for participation in the campaign is to provide information about the educational institution and to submit at least one photograph showing the condition of the bathroom in need of repair. If you wish, you can submit a photograph containing the general view of the educational institution. In addition to photos, each participant leaves a description of the condition of the bathroom and a description of the reasons for the repair. All information provided in the application is carefully checked by the organizers of the action, and voting is allowed on the site if all the rules are followed. “We understand that the state of the bathrooms is considered “inappropriate,” so it’s very important to us to maintain privacy and not post photos in public.”
They also stated that during the project’s existence in Russia, they helped repair 22 school toilets and supplied Domestos products to more than 2,000 educational institutions across the country.
When are photos of school toilets in 2021 was in the public domain, portal users provided pictures with comments: “Everything is very sad. Children want them to go home if they need to go to the toilet”, “Children who periodically slip either fall on the concrete or fall into the pit with their feet.”
Some journalists considered the Domestos contest “a provocation against Russia” and asked the Kremlin’s stance on the event.
“We have nothing to do with detergent, but we don’t see anything like that here” answered Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.