Colgate

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Colgate

Basic information
Founded	1806
Type	Public
Industry	Dental care
Official website	https://colgate.com

Colgate is a dental health company founded in 1806.

Consumer-impact summary

Freedom

Users can submit data requests and delete their account through the Colgate Connect application.

Privacy

According to the Colgate privacy policy, the data of users is shared with affiliates such as Kolibree with this data including First and last name, Postal address, Telephone number, Email address, Profile picture, and Social media account ID. This data is held for "as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with applicable law" and can be deleted by emailing Colgate and Kolibree individually.

Business model

Colgate primarily sells traditional toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, and whitening strips. With the hum line of toothbrushes, they are sold at a cheaper price in return for more expensive toothbrush heads.

Market control

In 2020, over 139.37 million people used Colgate toothpaste.

Incidents

Removal of app features (2024)

In October 2024, users of the "Colgate Connect" (previously "hum") application received pop-up notifications regarding the deprecation of previously existing features, such as "GoPirate!" and "mind your speed". In December, more features were removed such as "test your angles" and "whitening reminders". Around this time, the "hum" brand of toothbrushes were quietly discontinued, with existing users not being aware of where to get new brush heads. Most of the app features did not rely on a constant connection to servers, which made the removal of the app's features more confusing to its users.

• 
  App from 2021
• 
  Popup for GoPirate! deprecation
• 
  With GoPirate!
• 
  Aftermath of GoPirate! removal
• 
  App update notes
• 
  Popup for Journal deprecation

Products

• hum (2020)
• hum kids (2021)