Campbell's is in the soup again, at least at the Federal Trade Commission. Yesterday, the commission accused Campbell Soup Co. of making phony health claims in its "Soup is Good Food" advertising campaign. Specifically, the commission charged Campbell with "false and misleading" advertising in suggesting that its soups could reduce the risk of some forms of heart disease. The print advertisement in question was published last winter and has since been discontinued. But the FTC is proceeding with its complaint because it has "reason to believe" that Campbell violated federal truth-in-advertising laws by publishing the ad in the first place. "Health-related information is important to consumers, and advertising is a principal source of that information. This is why the commission demands accuracy in advertising," said William MacLeod, director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection. It was 20 years ago that the FTC brought one of its first deceptive advertising actions, also against Campbell. Back then, the complaint was that the company had put marbles underneath the vegetables before photographing bowls of its soup for magazine ads. In a consent agreement reached with the FTC in 1970, Campbell agreed to toss out the marbles and adhere to stricter advertising guidelines for its products. Reacting to yesterday's complaint, Campbell spokesman James H. Moran said, "Our position continues to be that our advertising is not misleading." In its latest controversial ad, Campbell said that most of its soups "are low in fat and cholesterol." It concluded: "And that's especially good to know, because research tells us that a diet low in fat and cholesterol may help reduce the risk of some forms of heart disease." That ad copy was misleading, according to the commission, because it failed to note that many Campbell soups contain lots of sodium "and that diets high in sodium may increase the risk of heart disease," the FTC said in its complaint. If the complaint is upheld at an administrative law judge hearing March 27, the commission could force Campbell to tell consumers about the salt content of its soups in certain advertisements. But Moran said that such an action would force Campbell to do what it already is doing. "We think we are very responsible on the subject of salt," Moran said. "We're the only major soup company that puts salt content on the label. And we also offer a low-salt Special Request brand of soup," Moran said. But neither Moran nor the FTC mollified Richard L. Hanneman, president of the Salt Institute in Alexandria, which represents most of the manufacturers in the United States' $123 million food-grade salt industry. In its complaint against Campbell, "The FTC is relying on inadequate science -- science that over the last decade has proved the negative reports about salt to be fallacious," Hanneman said. Sodium may have ill effects on "6 percent to 10 percent of the population who are salt-sensitive hypertensives," Hanneman said. "There is no science that says eating sodium causes high blood pressure" or other pulmonary disorders, he said. The FTC is not the only federal agency to complain about Campbell's new marketing effort, which is aimed at repositioning its venerable line of packaged food for a newly health-conscious market. In 1987, the National Cancer Institute accused Campbell of misleading the public to believe that its Homestyle Bean Soup could reduce the risk of some forms of cancer because, the ad said the soup "combines three types of beans with a rich savory broth to create a delicious source of fiber." "And fiber is important because the National Cancer Institute says that a diet high in fiber and low in fat may help reduce the risk of some forms of cancer," Campbell's 1987 ad said. The NCI demanded that Campbell remove the institute's name from its advertising campaign. The institute also said that the company's soup contained too much salt. Campbell defended its high-fiber advertising strategy, but agreed to remove NCI's name from its promotions.
