Company launches new ad campaign centered on education
Reuters
Updated: 1:31 p.m. ET April 19, 2004 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4779834/

CHICAGO - Hoping to tone down the Atkins Diet’s steak-and-bacon image, the company that bears the name of the low-carbohydrate food plan is launching a campaign centered on education rather than its products.

The ads, which privately held Atkins Nutritionals Inc. is running on the back pages of Newsweek and other major publications, feature its new Atkins Lifestyle Food Guide Pyramid.

The campaign comes as a host of rivals, including those pushing spinoff diets like South Beach, seek to cash in on Americans’ fight against obesity and topple Atkins from its market-leading position.

“They are pressed to reinvent the public perception that the Atkins Diet is not synonymous with bacon cheeseburgers,” said Dean Rotbart, editor of the online industry newsletter LowCarbiz.

The Atkins model runs counter to the high-carb diet depicted in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s own long-standing food pyramid, which has grain-based foods at its base and limited amounts of protein and fat on top.

But contrary to popular belief, Atkins says it prescribes ”a wide range of protein sources and nutrient-dense carbohydrates, such as most vegetables, certain fruits, nuts, dairy products and whole grains.”

“There’s not a mention of a product on there,” Matthew Wiant, senior vice president of marketing, said of the new ads. ”It’s reminding people that eating Atkins is fundamentally about eating whole foods.”

The campaign follows criticism from consumer advocacy groups that have cautioned against the ill effects of low-carb eating, especially Atkins.

And the death of company founder Dr. Robert Atkins after a fall in April 2003 led to a spate of negative publicity when the public learned that the developer of his namesake diet had been overweight.