HP UK Press Release

HP Calls on the British Public to Donate a Smile and Break a New World Record  

NCH, the children’s charity, to receive 25p for each smile donated

LONDON, UK, March 17, 2005 - In a bid to set a new Guinness World Record and to raise money for charity, HP today calls on the British public to donate a picture either of themselves or of a smiling family member, friend or colleague to help create “Britain’s Biggest Smile”.  For every smile donated at www.hp.com/uk/smile, HP will donate 25p to NCH, the children’s charity that helps vulnerable and excluded children to realise their potential. To break the Guinness World Record 35,000 smiles are needed from all over the UK. Every smile donated will be displayed in a London Gallery in August 2005, creating the world’s largest photographic exhibition and creating Britain’s Biggest Smile.

Ian Whittaker, HP Vice President, Imaging and Printing Group UK & Ireland commented:  “This is a chance for everyone to do their bit for a very worthy charity and be part of history. Imagine being part of the biggest photographic exhibition in the world and seeing your smile amongst the thousands of others donated. We need the British public to really get behind this record attempt, donate their smile and help us to help NCH.”

Clare Tickell, Chief Executive of NCH said, “Smiling is a great way to make you feel good, at NCH we always focus on the positive which is why we felt this was a great project to be involved with. NCH runs more than 500 projects for children and young people, and their families, throughout the UK supporting over 140,000 people. The money raised will help NCH to give more children that we work with a future worth smiling about”.

The HP and NCH smile campaign is supported by England and British and Irish Lions rugby star Martin Johnson who will be donating his smile to the exhibition and taking the smile message out to the UK public. Special HP “Smile Squads” will be visiting major shopping centres around the UK to help capture the nation’s smiles and boost charity donations. The dates and locations for Smile Squad visits are available upon request. 

Recent scientific research conducted on behalf of HP found that seeing a smile can give more pleasure than sex or eating chocolate. Receiving a smile from a friend or relative generates much higher levels of stimulation to the brain and the heart than being given money or having a cigarette, according to clinical tests. But the amount of pleasure depends on who is smiling: a child’s face or that of a celebrity has a much better effect than a politician or a member of the Royal family. The study found that smiles from Geri Halliwell and Robbie Williams created much greater stimulation and pleasure than those by Tony Blair or Prince William.

Ian Whittaker, added, “Smiling is very powerful tool, people with big smiles often find that those around them smile too, it can be very contagious. This exhibition aims to celebrate the smile and bring families from across the UK together to create Britain’s biggest smile. At HP we’re often asked about how to take the perfect family photograph so when a person visits the smile website they can also explore creative digital photography and learn how family photography can be both stylish and simple.”

About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2005, HP revenue totaled $81.8 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.

About NCH – the children’s charity
NCH works in partnership to run more than 500 projects for the UK’s most vulnerable children, young people and their families and in doing so supports over 140,000 people. For further information visit www.nch.org.uk

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they ever materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including the expected development, performance or rankings of products or services; statements of expectation or belief; and any statement of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the development, performance and market acceptance of products and services and other risks that are described from time to time in HP’s Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to HP’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2004. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.