March 24, 2005

Dieticians Think Splenda Ads Are “Rotten”
J&J/McNeil’s Splenda ads win Canadian “Rotten Apple” Prize 

WASHINGTON, Thursday, March 24 – Johnson & Johnson/McNeil has been awarded the 2005 “Rotten Apple” award by the Order of Professional Dieticians of Quebec (OPDQ) for print advertisements touting the chlorinated artificial sweetener Splenda.  Johnson & Johnson/McNeil’s Splenda ads were nominated for both the television and the print categories “for marketing that evokes the idea that their product (an artificial sugar substitute) can be used everywhere sugar can be used and can be given to children without limitation.  The ads also maintain it has the taste of sugar.”

According to the OPDQ, “the Rotten Apple award denounces a company from the food industry whose ads can carry confusion about the concept of a health food or about the nutritional value of a product.”

The “winning” ad is Johnson & Johnson’s “Dance of the Splenda Plum Fairy” print advertisement, which claims that the chemical sweetener can be used “everywhere you use sugar” and is “an excellent reason to spoil your loved ones.”  The ad features a young child eating cookies.

Canadian nutritionists are not the only ones concerned with the marketing of Splenda.  In a recent WebMDHealth article, Samantha Heller, MS, RD, remarked: “Saying Splenda is made from sugar is like taking the round wheels off a car and putting on square wheels.  Is it still a car?  Yes.  But can it still perform like a car?  No.  And what’s more we don’t know what’s going to happen when people try to ‘drive it’ cross country.”

The Apple awards (the Golden Apple prize and the Rotten Apple prize) are given annually by the Order of Professional Dieticians of Quebec to the companies of the food industry who positively or negatively illustrate respect for nutrition in their marketing of a food product.  The OPDQ is a Canadian professional association concerned with matters of nutrition and public health.  For more information about the OPDQ or the Apple prizes, please visit http://www.opdq.org.

To learn more about the truth about Splenda, please contact Rich Masters at Qorvis Communications at 202-496-1000, email at rmasters@qorvis.com or visit the website www.truthaboutsplenda.com.

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