Thursday, December 10, 2009



Australia: Growers go bananas over gum ad

We read:
"The chewing gum maker Wrigley's has dug its heels in over an advertisement that portrays the humble banana as a junk food that rots teeth, triggering a threat of a nationwide boycott of its products by farmers.

The body representing 800 Australian banana growers is planning to stage the protest this month after the multinational company refused to remove the banana from a TV commercial promoting Wrigley's gum.

In the ad, a banana appears alongside a doughnut, popcorn and coffee in a rogue's gallery of the food and drinks most likely to lead to a build-up of plaque.

The marketing manager of Australian Bananas, David Chenu, said the ad ''denigrated the health and nutrition benefits'' of bananas, which Wrigley's denies.

Dentists, who are cited in the ad recommending Wrigley's sugar-free gum, have now weighed in to defend the banana.

Source

Are banana growers the latest group that needs to be apologized to? What next?

6 comments:

Dr. Yes said...

Why would Wrigleys attack bananas? Do they fear competition from banana-flavored gum? Do they believe they can con people into believing that their gum is more healthy than a natural product?

Anonymous said...

No banana ever did this.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579799,00.html?test=latestnews

Anonymous said...

Send Obama to Australia then. He'll apologize for anything.

Anonymous said...

And he'll bow to the bananas!

Robert said...

Wrigley's seeming claim of a banana, being a fruit high in potassium among other nutrients, being a junk food does not seem very credible. The burden of proof is on them to show how bananas would promote a build-up of plaque on teeth. The only thing I could think of on their side would potentially be bits of banana sticking to the teeth with the natural sugars it has promoting plaque. I suspect the dentists taking the other side of the argument will be able to provide plenty of contrary evidence.

Anonymous said...

Bananas have lots of sugar. Of course they could have used most other fruit besides banana but I doubt the marketing agency stopped to consider this possible outcome. Almost anything causes plaque and acid attacks so why get mad for pointing out that bananas do too.