Boots UK Offers Fragrant Hugs for Charity

For the past four years, Boots UK, the UK pharmacy-led health and beauty retailing business of Alliance Boots, has loaned its support to BBC Children in Need 2008, with some hugely impressive results. During last year’s fundraiser, Boots helped the organization to raise a record-breaking £1.2 million with their line of Pudsey products, named for the charity’s mascot teddy bear. This year, they hope to top that remarkable number with something completely different: Two specially designed his-and-hers fragrances.

“This year BBC Children in Need is all about doing something different, so we thought we should follow that ethos here at Boots. Traditionally, all our Children in Need Pudsey products, which are sold to raise funds for the charity have been focused on children, but this year we thought we should do something different and create products that adults can also enjoy.”

Appropriately named Hug for Her and Hug for Him, the fragrances were specially created to conjure memories of a happy childhood. Hug for Her is all about the familiar smell of bath time–warm towels with a hint of baby powder. Hug for Him smells like wood shavings overlaid with the sweet scent of cola, reminiscent of a school pencil case containing everything from pencils to sticky sweets. “We absolutely tried to recreate comforting scents that are defining memories from childhood. Our customers who buy a Hug fragrance to support Children In Need will relive happy memories of their childhood, whilst the donation they have made will help BBC Children in Need create brighter futures for some of today’s generation of children.”

Each bottle, gold for the ladies’ scent and silver for the mens’, is adorned with a Pudsey-inspired phone charm and costs around £10, with £3.50 being donated to BBC Children in Need, which has raised more than £470m in its 28 years to help the UK’s disadvantaged children.