Unilever’s range includes beauty, personal care and household cleaning products. Dove and Vaseline are among its brands.
Ask before expecting samples
The old sample stories come from Unilever’s Dutch annual general meetings in 2018 and 2019. Those minutes do not promise a regular gift, give a shareholding requirement or offer delivery by post. We have not established whether or when sampling stopped.
If you want to know whether a forthcoming meeting will offer samples, ask Unilever’s shareholder services team before making plans. Its general enquiry address is below; it is not a confirmed claim route.
Company shops serve pension members
The Unilever UK Pension Fund’s May 2025 notice says pension members can shop at company sites, including Colworth and Port Sunlight. It asks them to phone ahead and have their Pensioner ID ready for the call. The notice gives no route through share ownership.
Unilever shareholder services - General private shareholder enquiries: shareholder.services@unilever.com
Company story
Two companies, two annual meetings
Unilever had two parent companies until November 2020: N.V. in the Netherlands and PLC in the UK. Each held its own annual general meeting. The group then unified under a single PLC parent.
PLC invited shareholders to its Leatherhead office in 2015 and 2016 to “personally experience our brands”. Neither notice explains what that involved or promises products to take home. The sample announcements below came from N.V.’s Rotterdam meetings; they do not establish what UK attendees received.
Dove shampoo at the 2018 meeting
Unilever N.V. held its AGM at Rotterdam’s World Trade Center on 3 May 2018. During the voting instructions, company secretary Ritva Sotamaa told the audience that Dove Intensive Repair shampoo samples were available outside.
Sotamaa also used the shampoo for a practice question for the electronic voting handsets: did shoppers on Bol.com give it more than four stars? Most voters thought so. Sotamaa revealed the rating was 4.5 stars.
Shower gel and a recycling quiz
Unilever N.V.’s next AGM took place in Rotterdam on 1 May 2019. Its draft minutes record Sotamaa announcing that Love Beauty and Planet shower-gel samples would be handed out outside. She asked another practice question: were the bottles made from fully recyclable plastic?
Most voters thought they were not. Sotamaa said the bottles were made from fully recyclable plastic. Chairman Marijn Dekkers said the result had made him nervous, adding that the company would not have asked the question otherwise.
Sources: 2015 PLC AGM notice ; 2016 PLC AGM notice ; 2018 N.V. AGM minutes ; 2019 N.V. AGM draft minutes ; 2020 unification announcement
Where to look instead
These companies offer shareholder perks. Each page explains who qualifies and how to claim.