Mouthwash manufacturers go into PR crisis mode
Mouthwash manufacturers have launched a public information campaign to counteract negative headlines regarding the risk of oral cancer from using the products.
Yesterday’s newspapers featured unbranded double page advertisements telling the public “there is no scientific evidence to support an association between the use of mouthwashes that contain alcohol and an increased risk of oral cancer.”
The ad attacked the Australian research that had generated media coverage as “a small, selective review that does not accurately reflect the full body of evidence on the subject.” The research was first published in the Dental Journal of Australia.
The level of the PR crisis faced by the brands was underlined in Sydney in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph, where a full page article named Listerine, which has 26% of the mouthwash market, as suffering from a particular image problem.