Company: CL
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000021665-25-000008
Chunk: 77

Company: COLGATE PALMOLIVE CO
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 77
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 cover the costs of its development and promotion. Our ability to achieve a successful launch of a new product could also be adversely affected by preemptive actions taken by competitors in response to the launch, such as increased promotional activities and advertising. In addition, new products may not be accepted quickly or significantly in the marketplace.

Our ability to quickly innovate to adapt and market our products and to adapt our packaging or the sustainability profile of our products to meet evolving consumer preferences and/or regulatory requirements is an essential part of our business strategy. The failure to develop and launch successful new products or to adapt our packaging, the sustainability profile of our products or supply chain to meet such preferences could hinder the growth of our business and any delay in the development or launch of a new product could result in us not being the first to market, which could compromise our competitive position and adversely affect our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. In addition, our success in launching new products is also dependent on our ability to deliver effective and efficient marketing in an evolving media landscape (including digital), which is subject to dynamic and increasingly restrictive privacy requirements and emerging regulations. Our ability to launch new products, including our ability to deliver effective and efficient marketing campaigns, is also impacted by our ability to successfully adopt new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, including machine learning and generative artificial intelligence.

If, in the course of identifying or developing new products, we are found to have infringed the trademark, trade secret, copyright, patent or other intellectual property rights of others, directly or indirectly, through the use of third-party ideas or technologies, such a finding could adversely affect our ability to develop innovative new products and adversely affect our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. Even if we are not found to infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights, claims of infringement could adversely affect us, including by increasing costs and by delaying the launch of new products.

Damage to our reputation could have an adverse effect on our business.

Maintaining our strong reputation with consumers and our trade partners globally is critical to selling our branded products. Accordingly, we devote significant time and resources to programs designed to protect and preserve our reputation, such as our ethics and compliance, sustainability and social impact, brand protection and product safety, regulatory and quality initiatives and our enterprise risk management program. Negative publicity about us, our brands, our products, our supply chain, our ingredients, our packaging, our sustainability and social impact practices, or our employees, whether or not deserved, could jeopardize our reputation. Such