Canadians On Stain Removal

Toronto, ON - According to a new Ipsos-Reid survey conducted on behalf of Tide Buzz, four in ten Canadians (42%) say they have thrown out a garment because of a stain and 17% of Canadians say they have decided not to wear a particular piece of clothing to a lunch, dinner, or a party because they were afraid it might get stained. Canadians cite, unprompted, ink (29%), blood (15%), grass (14%), and red wine (12%) as the stains which are the most difficult to remove from a piece of clothing.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/Tide Buzz poll conducted from August 10th to August 12th, 2004. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1773.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Four in ten Canadians (42%) say they have thrown out a garment because of a stain, while 58% say they have not.

• Residents of Atlantic Canada (52%), Ontario (48%), and British Columbia (48%) are the most inclined to say they have thrown out a garment because of a stain, followed by residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (40%), Alberta (37%), and Quebec (28%).

• Canadians aged 18-54 are more likely than Canadians aged 55 and over to say they have thrown out a garment because of a stain (46% vs. 31%).

• Women are more likely than men say they have thrown out a garment because of a stain (45% vs. 38%).

• As annual household income level rises among Canadians the propensity to say they have thrown out a garment because of a stain rises (30% among those with an annual household income of less than $30,000, 39% among those with annual household income of $30,000 to less than $60,000, and 52% among those with an annual household income of $60,000 or more).

Nearly one in five (17%) of Canadians have decided not to wear a particular piece of clothing to a lunch, dinner, or a party because the were afraid it might get stained, while 83% of Canadians say they have not done this.

• Canadians aged 18-34 are more likely than those aged 35 and over to say they have decided not to wear a garment to lunch, dinner, or a party because they were afraid it might get stained (28% vs. 12%).

Canadians cite, unprompted, ink (29%), blood (15%), grass (14%), and red wine (12%) as the stains which are the most difficult to remove from a piece of clothing. Other mentions include: grease (6%), oil (5%), tomato sauce/ketchup (3%), and food stains (1%). One in ten Canadians (11%) cite some "other" stain as the most difficult to remove, while 5% "don't know".

• There are no statistically significant demographic differences for this question.

Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900