Mouthwash Maker To Rinse Ad Claim

The maker of Listerine mouthwash will spend $2 million to replace what a judge called misleading advertising suggesting the product is as effective as flossing at fighting plaque and gingivitis.

About 4,000 workers will be deployed around the country to place stickers over the claim on Listerine bottles and to remove similar advertisements that hang on bottlenecks, a lawyer for Pfizer told a federal judge Monday.

Television, print and medical-journal ads using the campaign are also being pulled, and the as-effective-as-floss campaign has also been removed from the Listerine Web site, lawyer Tom Smart said.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin ruled Friday that the advertising poses a public health risk and could undermine the message of dental professionals. The lawsuit was filed by a Johnson & Johnson company that makes dental floss.

Chin said dentists have been urging patients to floss for decades because the benefits "are real — they are not a myth."

McNeil-PPC Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, sued Pfizer over the campaign, which began in June, saying it posed an unfair threat to its sales of dental floss.

Pfizer spokesman Tom Sanford said the company was considering an appeal of Chin's injunction.

Sanford said several million bottles would be affected by the ruling.

Pfizer's campaign featured a TV ad titled "The Big Bang" that asserts Listerine is clinically proven to be as effective as floss. The ads caution that there is no substitute for flossing.

Smart told the judge that while Pfizer may disagree with the ruling, "We intend to comply with it, and we respect the decision of the court."