Associated Press
January 7, 2005

Judge: Listerine No Replacement For Floss, Despite Claim By Ads

NEW YORK -- An advertising campaign that says the mouthwash Listerine
is as effective as floss at fighting tooth and gum decay is false and
misleading and poses a public health risk because it can undermine the
message of dental professionals, a judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said in a decision signed Thursday and
made public Friday that he will order Pfizer, the maker of Listerine,
to stop the advertising campaign.

"Dentists and hygienists have been telling their patients for decades
to floss daily," Chin wrote. "They have been doing so for good reason.
The benefits of flossing are real -- they are not a `myth.' Pfizer's
implicit message that Listerine can replace floss is false and
misleading."

The judge ruled after McNeil-PPC Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson &
Johnson, filed a lawsuit saying that false claims in the advertising
campaign that began last June posed an unfair threat against its sales
of dental floss.

Pfizer in print ads had featured a Listerine bottle balanced equally on
a scale opposite a floss container with the words: "Listerine
antiseptic is clinically proven to be as effective as floss at reducing
plaque and gingivitis between the teeth."

The campaign also featured a television commercial titled the "Big
Bang." In it, the commercial announces that Listerine is as effective
as floss and that clinical tests prove it, though it does add that
there is no replacement for flossing.

The judge said "substantial evidence" demonstrates that flossing is
important in reducing tooth decay and gum disease and that it cannot be
replaced by rinsing with a mouthwash.

The judge also noted that the authors of articles on which Pfizer based
its advertising campaign had emphasized that dental professionals
should continue to recommend daily flossing and cautioned that they
were not suggesting that mouthrinse be used instead of floss.

Messages left with Pfizer and McNeil-PPC Friday were not immediately
returned.

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