Generation Green Asks California AG to Investigate Splenda Ads
EVANSTON, Ill., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Generation Green today sent a letter to California's Attorney General Bill Lockyer, urging an investigation of misleading advertising practices by Johnson & Johnson for its artificial sweetener Splenda.
Specifically, Generation Green says the advertising misleads consumers into believing that Splenda is a natural product, made from sugar. In fact, Johnson & Johnson does not even list sugar as an ingredient in Splenda. In the letter, Generation Green called on the state of California to take such steps that are necessary to halt Johnson & Johnson's misleading Splenda marketing campaign within the state and to require Johnson & Johnson to provide complete and accurate product information to California consumers.
Rochelle Davis, Executive Director, and Robert M. Brandon, Project Director, both of Generation Green, sent the following letter, dated Oct. 10, to California's Attorney General Bill Lockyer:
On behalf of Generation Green and thousands of member families concerned about the health and welfare of our children, I would vigorously echo the recent calls upon your office to begin an investigation into misleading advertising by Johnson & Johnson' s McNeil Nutritionals LLC for the artificial sweetener sucralose, which is sold under the brand-name Splenda.
Generation Green is a non-profit advocacy group comprised of parents and other concerned citizens who favor corporate and governmental policies that will allow children to grow up protected from exposure to toxins. We place great importance on protecting the consumer's right to know about chemical exposure, particularly related to food so that people are able to make informed decisions, especially with respect to their children's health.
The issue of Splenda advertising is of significant importance for California consumers, and indeed, for consumers across the country. Today, Splenda holds over a third of the sweetener market only six years after its approval as a food additive by the FDA in 1998. This remarkable growth is attributed to the perception that Splenda is natural and sugar-based. This perception is the direct result of Johnson & Johnson's intentional efforts to mislead consumers regarding the product. The slogan "made from SUGAR so it tastes like SUGAR," which is pervasive in Splenda print and broadcast advertising, seeks to mislead and confuse consumers into believing that Splenda is a natural product of sugar. It is a misleading claim.
The facts are these: * Splenda is a chemically created product in which sugar molecules are manipulated through chlorination and other processes so as to be completely unrecognizable as sugar. * Following chlorination, a further chemical process is applied using phosgene, a poisonous gas described by the Centers for Disease Control as a major industrial chemical used to make plastics and pesticides. * The Splenda label does not and cannot list sugar as an ingredient, as sugar is not recognizable in the final product.
The legal requirement of advertising substantiation -- that advertisers and ad agencies have a reasonable basis for advertising claims before they are disseminated -- is especially important when consumer health and safety is at issue, such as in a food additive like Splenda.
Nonetheless, Johnson & Johnson encourages consumer confusion by continually highlighting the word "sugar" in its advertising campaign, seeking to bolster the false association between Splenda and sugar in consumers' minds.
This is a dangerous development, as the product is quite clearly anything but natural.
Even more troubling, many of the Splenda ads focus on images of children; these ads convey the message that Splenda is a better, more natural product for children than other artificial sweeteners. These ads aim to encourage parents to provide or prepare food items for their children with Splenda. In one television commercial aired earlier this year, a child's voice says "Splenda and spice and everything nice. That's what little girls are made of." over video of children playing. This advertisement clearly equates Splenda with sugar (replacing "sugar" with "Splenda" in a common expression) and is intended to encourage the use of the product for children.
Moreover, Splenda's product expansion has focused on creating "low sugar" products like snack foods, breakfast cereals and soda -- indeed, Splenda is now an ingredient in many of the "convenience foods" that parents might give to their children, or that children might select for themselves.
Generation Green has been concerned for some time that this product expansion signals a clear intention by the Johnson & Johnson to target, not only parents, but also children, with its misleading Splenda advertising. That's why earlier this year Generation Green wrote to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission seeking a full investigation into Johnson & Johnson's Splenda advertising campaign.
In the absence of aggressive FTC action on this issue, it is vital that state offices like yours take up this issue on behalf of consumers. If, as there appears, the company has no basis for suggesting that Splenda and sugar are closely linked and equally natural products, we call upon the state of California to take such steps that are necessary to halt Johnson & Johnson's extensive Splenda marketing campaign within the state and to require Johnson & Johnson to provide complete and accurate product information to California consumers.
Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.
Source: Generation Green
CONTACT: Bob Brandon, Project Director of Generation Green,
+1-202-331-1550
http://www.generationgreen.org/
For more information:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-51%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=artificial+sweetners
