Group Wants Warning in Olestra Ads

A Washington-based food industry watchdog group is demanding that state and federal officials determine whether advertising for Procter & Gamble’s new olestra fat replacer violates truth-in-advertising laws.

At a news conference Tuesday in Hollywood, Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said he has asked California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren and the Federal Trade Commission to determine if commercials for products made with the fat replacer should include a notice that “olestra may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools.”

That cautionary language is mandated by the Food and Drug Administration on packages containing snacks fried in olestra, a fat replacer that is supposed to give chips the taste that fat delivers without adding calories. But the FDA does not regulate advertising for food products, so Jacobson is asking other agencies to give consumers “an upfront warning” about possible health risks.

The CSPI has asked regulators in Midwestern states where olestra products were sold during two years of intense test marketing to review advertising. But so far no federal or state agencies have demanded changes in ads for olestra, which P&G; is marketing as Olean.

A spokeswoman for the California attorney general’s office said the CSPI’s request is being reviewed.

Industry observers say Jacobson’s group faces an uphill battle in its bid to force P&G; and other companies using olestra in their products to include cautionary language in commercials.

“I’d say it would be a tough sell today,” said David W. Stewart, a marketing professor at USC who has served as a consultant to the FTC. “Including language like that in advertising is really quite uncommon. You see it in some over-the-counter medicines, and cigarettes are a prime example. But this isn’t the first product to come along that some people might be allergic to or have a reaction to.”

Just hours before the CSPI news conference, P&G; staged its own media event, handing out samples of its new no-fat Pringles chips to passersby outside the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.

P&G; senior nutritionist Suzette Middleton countered the CSPI’s claims of possible health problems by describing Olean as “having been thoroughly reviewed by the FDA. All of the questions have been answered.”

Culver City resident Paula Wilson said she has been eating the chips for several weeks with no problems. She praised P&G; for creating a product that her diabetic daughter can eat. “It’s very important that products like this stay on the shelves,” Wilson said.

P&G;’s Olean ads, which began airing Feb. 21, portray olestra--which took $500 million and 30 years to develop--as a new product “from the folks who make Crisco.”

P&G; has licensed Olean to Frito-Lay Corp., which is using it in its new Wow line of chips.