Goldberg’s Slim-Fast Ads Cut After Bush Comment

Unilever pulled all advertisements for its Slim-Fast diet products that feature Whoopi Goldberg after the comic made a sexual pun on President Bush’s name at a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry.

Goldberg spoke at a dinner for Kerry last week at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Afterward, Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman called for a public release of a tape of the event.

To stem a sales decline at the unit, Unilever had hired Goldberg to “shake the notion of just shakes.” The ads for Slim-Fast, a key player in the $40-billion-a-year diet and weight-control industry, featured Goldberg, who began the diet in November.

“We are disappointed by the manner in which Ms. Goldberg chose to express herself and sincerely regret that her recent remarks offended some of our consumers,” Terry Olson, vice president of marketing for Slim-Fast, said. “Ads featuring Ms. Goldberg will no longer be on the air.”

Spokeswoman Jennifer Goldin declined to say whether the company had noticed any decrease in sales because of the comments.

Goldberg’s agent, Brad Cafarelli of Bragman Nyman Cafarelli, didn’t immediately return a phone call or e-mail to say whether Goldberg had a response to the pulling of the ads.

Unilever, based in the Netherlands, is the world’s largest maker of food and soap.

The company has been trying to reverse last year’s sales decline at its Slim-Fast division by introducing products that are low in carbohydrates. Slim-Fast sales declined 21% last year.