Company Announcements

Classrooms Around The World Receive Essential Supplies Putting High-Quality, Long-Lasting Pens And Pencils Directly In The Hands Of Students

Social Media Campaign Aims To Raise Total Product Donation To Three Million

SHELTON, Conn. , Nov. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With the invention of its Cristal® pen in 1950, BIC democratized handwriting in classrooms on a global scale. For the first time in history, an affordable, high-quality writing instrument was made accessible to every student, in every corner of the world. Today, the spirit of this ingeniously simple product, and the essential role writing instruments play in helping children receive a quality education, is at the heart of the Company's Global Education Week initiative, which this year provided a product donation of 2.5 million pens and pencils to schools in need around the world.

"Comprehensive writing instruction at an early age, including fundamentals like handwriting, thought planning, and sentence structure, has remained a proven way to unlock lifelong learning benefits," said Gonzalve Bich, CEO of BIC. "For students, having dependable writing instruments is critical to their ability to master these skills. However, affordability and access to the instruments they need remains a hurdle for many families. This Global Education Week, we are stocking classrooms around the world with millions of our best pens and pencils for students to call their own, so they have what they need in their toolkit to focus on what matters most, their education."

BIC's Global Education Week, now in its fifth year, is an education-based charitable initiative that mobilizes the Company's global workforce to help improve learning conditions for students. Each year, BIC reimagines its giving strategy to identify and fill operational or financial gaps where it matters most, based on real-time needs in the communities where BIC operates. With inflation persisting and families increasingly under pressure to make their money go further, now more than ever, school supplies need to be dependable and long-lasting. With this donation, millions of students can trust that their writing instruments will last through the semester and beyond. On average, one BIC Cristal® ballpoint pen provides over two kilometers of writing.

In addition to the product donation, BIC team members volunteered hundreds of hours, organizing fun and creative events for students with an aim to inspire their curiosity and encourage new ways of thinking. This strategy came to life with events like the one in Brazil, where BIC worked with educational arts organization, Caravana Renovarte, to teach students about the importance of recycling and environmental protection; in America, where BIC hosted the Fall Collaboration Summit for Enactus, a global nonprofit that inspires students to use business and entrepreneurial skills to solve the world's biggest problems; and in Australia, where world-renowned illustrator Marc McBride conducted an art workshop with students, teaching tips and techniques to unlock their creative minds and enhance their drawing skills.

Global Education Week is a cornerstone of BIC's commitment to improving learning conditions for 250 million children globally by 2025, one of five major commitments set in 2018 as part of Writing The Future, Together, the Company's forward-looking sustainability program.

To help keep the giving going, BIC has created a social media campaign to provide followers with an opportunity to participate. Starting today, for every one "like" received on the Global Education Week posts on BIC's official LinkedIn and Instagram accounts, BIC will donate 100 more products to schools in need, up to 500,000, bringing the total product donation to three million globally.

For more information about BIC, please visit www.bic.com.

A world leader in stationery, lighters and shavers, BIC brings simplicity and joy to everyday Life. For more than 75 years, the Company has honored the tradition of providing high-quality, affordable, essential products to consumers everywhere. Through this unwavering dedication, BIC has become one of the most recognized brands and is a trademark registered worldwide. Today, BIC products are sold in more than 160 countries around the world and feature iconic brands such as BIC Kids^™, BIC Flex^™, BodyMark by BIC^™, Cello^®, Djeep, Lucky Stationery, Rocketbook, Soleil^®, Tipp-Ex^®, Us.^™, Wite-Out^®, Inkbox and more. In 2021, BIC Net Sales were 1,831.9 million euros. The Company is listed on "Euronext Paris"," is part of the SBF120 and CAC Mid 60 indexes and is recognized for its commitment to sustainable development and education. It received an A- Leadership score from CDP. For more, visit www.bic.com.

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SOURCE BIC Corporation