Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 13

BUSINESS Dave Poulson Business Editor 377-1191 Lansing State Journal Saturday, April 14, 1390 Page 7B McDonald's tells papers to cut critical advertisements 6 6 We think the papers just didn't check the facts. 5 Joseph Califano, McDonald's attorney By NORDGREN Associated Press CHICAGO Big Mac is on the attack, warning newspapers not to reprint a full-page ad placed by an Omaha industrialist who 'on Friday reiterated his claim thai McDonald food is too fatty. "We think the papers just didn't check, the facts," said McDonald's attorney Joseph Califano. He said the fast food company had advised the newspapers that the ad was misleading and asked them not to publish it again. "Npw they know the facts, now they are all on notice.

To publish anything like that ad would be a malicious act," Califanc said. rated fat content of McDonald's products, including an assertion that McDonald's precooked hamburger meat is 21.5 percent fat "In reality, the fat content before cooking is 17 to 20 percent fat and is typically 19.5 percent fat," Ebeling said. However, an official of a Washington, D.C-based consumer advocacy group said either way, the saturated fat levels in fast food are too high. "To me, the important part is that the general thrust of the ad was correct," said nutrition director Bonnie Liebman. Ebeling said McDonald's has worked to develop a healthy menu that includes salads, low-fat milk, and bran muffins.

The company also is experimenting with using pure vegetable oil for cooking The flap began April 4, when industrialist and anti-cholesterol crusader Phil So-kolof placed ads headlined "The Poisoning of America!" in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other papers. "McDonald's, Your Hamburgers Have Too Much Fat!" proclaimed the ad, which went on to ask McDonald's to reduce the fat in its hamburgers by 10 percent. McDonald's said Friday the ad was riddled with error. "Just about everything in the ad except the spelling of McDonald's was inaccurate," said Chuck Ebeling, a spokesman for the Oak Brook, fast food giant. Sokolof said McDonald's was putting up a smoke screen and that the ad was a pub- its french fries and hash browns.

Sokoloff would not rule out placing more ads, but did not reveal his plans. And neither Ebeling nor Califano would rule out of lawsuits against newspapers that run the advertisement in the future. But a Chicago expert in libel law said a lawsuit was unlikely and speculated the letters to newspapers merely represented saber-rattling on the part of McDonald's. "This ad has strong language, but it is clearly not actionable," said attorney Don Reuben. "McDonald's has not yet sued the people that wrote the ad that in itself would tell a newspaper it's not libelous." Some newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times and The Boston Globe, opted not to publish the ad the first time around.

lie service. "McDonald's has chosen to try and intimidate the nation's leading newspapers," said Sokolof, who blames a bad diet for a heart attack he suffered years ago. Ebeling said the ad overstated the satu tfofl dip DOug) Lansing State JournalGINGER SHAR Lansing State JournalGINGER SHARP Club. Completion of the $400,000 building is targeted for late June. The WILX Channel 10 studio is under construction at 500 American Road in south Lansing next to Sam's Wholesale mi the works: By RICK GLADSTONE Associated Press NEW YORK Companies call it good corporate citizenship, skeptics call it greenwashing and some hard-line environmentalists call it eco-pornography.

They're talking about the deluge of products, services and business advertising timed to coincide with celebrations and publicity marking the 20th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22. This past week, for example, Shell, Oil Co. announced an "environmentally enhanced" gasoline to cut pollution, H.J. Heinz Co. an-' noun'ced a new effort to turn empty bottles into carpeting, and the nation's biggest tuna canners promised to stop buying or selling tuna; caught in nets that snare dolphins.

Many of these efforts stem from what executives call a sensitivity to the- environment. Environmental groups generally have welcomed this trend. But as Earth Day draws closer and more companies seek to exploit its popularity, some activists are growing alarmed that the event is turning into a hype-ridden corporate sales campaign. "We think Earth Day is a good We're also convinced it has some extremely negative side effects," said Peter Dykstra, spokes man for Washington-based Greenpeace. "There's a lot of greenwashing going on," Dykstra said.

"It is frequently pursued most energetically by the companies with the worst records. The dolphin problems have been known for a quarter century." Some industries accused by the environmental movement of the most serious pollution history have incensed Earth Day celebrants by claiming to be their allies. The American Forest Council, a group of timber and paper companies, has taken out magazine ads that say "For Us, Every Day is Earth Day." "That goes beyond greenwashing," Dykstra said. "It's eco-pornography. It exploits environmental concern, just as pornography is commonly considered offensive and exploitative." Still, the announcements this past week by the nation's three largest sellers of canned tuna were regarded as a major victory by environmental activist groups.

To- some extent, the so-called greening of corporate America is founded on consumer-based economics. Surveys have shown that a majority of shoppers will avoid buying a product if they know it will hurt the environment. WILX Channel 10 studio Address: WILX Channel 10's new TV studio will be located at 500 American Road in south Lansing, near the corner of Edgewood next to Sam's Wholesale Club. Cost: $400,000. Size: About 5,000 square feet.

Completion: Targeted for late June. Owner: Adams TV of Lansing. General Contractor: Design Build Inc. of Lansing. Background: WILX TV-10 has offices in Jackson and Lansing.

The station has an office at 100 N. Pennsylvania Ave. in Lansing. In the works features Lansing area construction every Saturday. LtmXVffflTT''mnm II i Jf Ssf? Wholesale prices drop with lower gas costs I I I I I A wiii-Tv ax I studio 'jggA jy i 5 Price index A government's report showed that prices in March dropped because: Vegetable prices fell 25.5 percent.

Energy prices dropped 2.4 percent. Woody Mason of Mason Excavating Company (left) and Dave Kirby of Design and Build Inc. of Lansing discuss areas of construction at the WILX Channel 10 site. The studio will be about 5,000 square feet. WILX has offices in Jackson and Lansing, at 100 N.

Pennsylvania Ave. Lansing State Journal Imalb dsco to sell pet soacks diDSoom) Associated Press WASHINGTON Economists hailed good news after the government reported that a record drop in vegetable prices and lower gasoline costs caused a drop in wholesale prices for the first time in seven months. Prices have been topsy-turvy since January, when December's urfusually cold weather forced fuel and vegetable prices higher. Energy recovered a month later, but food prices didn't start coming down until March. That report, and favorable news on business inventories, was taken as a sign of economic vigor.

Rising inventories can signal a recession. Analysts say more good news is ahead. "Energy prices are still coming down and in fact we have a little more to go in vegetables. April should be a minus sign," said economist Ratajczak. The Labor Department's Producer Price Index declined 0.2 peijeent last month after no change in February and a huge 1.8 percent gain in January, the largest in 15 years.

Vegetables prices were down by 25.5 percent. In a separate report, the Commerce Department said business inventories fell 0.4 percent in February while sales surged 1.3 percent. Excluding the food and energy gyrations, wholesale inflation has been stable for nearly two years. Economists foresee little change. The Federal Reserve Board, they said, is keeping interest rates high enough to dampen both growth and price pressures but not high enough to derail the economy into a recession.

out for $24.53 billion by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Co. last year, the company has sold numerous assets -to reduce debt. Among other assets, the compa-! ny has sold five European food businesses for $2.5 billion; its Chun King division for $52 million; its 1 Associated Biscuits International Ltd. for $44 million; Del Monte fresh fruit operations for $875 lion; and Del Monte's canned food; business for $1.48 billion. Manfredi said.

Their business is all in the human foods area," he said. "This is the only one that's not." The pet snacks division had about $150 million in sales last year. Its profits were not disclosed separately from Nabisco's, Manfredi said. The division makes a variety of Milk Bones brand biscuits, such as ones formulated to curb tartar buildup on dogs' teeth. Since RJR Nabisco was bought bisco subsidiary.

"Our assumption is that anyone who buys that Milk Bones business will certainly want to keep it going. "It's a very profitable business." Nabisco expects no impact on the jobs of 12 workers at a Nabisco kennel test site in Sherburne, N.Y. and 275 others at a Buffalo, N.Y., plant. Nabisco decided to sell the division because it was not a "strategic fit" with the rest of its business. Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y.

There may be dog days ahead for the lovers of Milk Bones, as Nabisco Brands confirmed Friday plans to sell its pet snacks division to concentrate on "human foods." But probably not. Nabisco doesn't expect a buyer to discontinue the successful dog snack product. There have been no offers, said John Manfredi, senior vice president of the RJR Na Money BUSINESS DIGEST munications Corp. It has created ads for Alka-Seltzer Plus cold medicine, Benson Hedges cigarettes and Pringles potato chips and developed the "I Love New York" theme for New York. aunnlv fMl el Workers Life Benefit Plan, known as the mortuary fund.

The three men are charged in a suit filed by 15 members of the Carpenter's union with violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ELSEWHERE Mf-zmmfi. In billions of GREATER LANSING uuiiaig fr -i ry- New micro computers unveiled 47,000 baby pacifiers recalled OKEMOS Dale ComDuter Co mo ration of the troubled real estate giant to honor back paychecks. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol gave General Development until Monday to present a short-term financial plan.

He also set status hearings on the company, which pleaded guilty last month in connection with a scheme to sell overpriced homes. General Development filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcty protection on April 6, claiming a severe cash shortage after failing to secure about $60 million in short-term credit A special master appointed by U.S. District Court Lenore Nesbitt is reviewing an estimated $100 million restitution program for about 10,000 victims of the overpricing scheme. The program is part of a plea agreement that settled a 16-count indictment against the company and two former executives. 40 of ad agency to be sold NEW YORK The advertising agency Wells Rich Greene Inc.

said Friday it will sell a 40 percent stake to a French firm and join an international ad agency network, in an effort to give its clients more worldwide services. Wells Rich Greene handles billings of about $850 million a year. Its clients include International Business Machines Ford Motor Procter Gamble, Hertz and MCI Com 810 780 April 2, 1990 $808.3 billion jj Boeing to build new jet RENTON, Wash. Boeing Co. said Friday it would begin producing a new commercial jet under an agreement with three Japanese companies that will produce parts and provide up to 20 percent of the capital for the venture.

The so-called 767-X is intended to fill the size gap between Boeing's 767, another jetliner that uses some Japanese-produced components, and its 747 jumbo jet, company officials said. Lawrence Clarkson, senior vice president for government and international affairs at Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, said the Japanese companies would account for about 15 percent to 20 percent of the investment needed to produce components and start production The plane is designed to replace the 687 DC-10s and L-lOlls that will be approaching 25 years of age in the mid-1990s. Compiled from stall and wire reports. WASHINGTON The distributor of a baby pacifier is recalling more than 47,000 of them because they may present a suffocation or strangulation hazard to young children, the government said Friday. Consolidated Stores of Columbus, Ohio, is recalling 47,520 of its pacifiers, because they don't have ventilation holes in the guards or shields, as required by law, the commission -said.

The pacifiers were sold nationwide from May through November 1989 at Odd Lots or Big Lots Stores in packages labeled in English and French "bib to bowl, Sterilized Pacifier, birth to 24 1852037." Deadline moved for real estate firm MIAMI A federal bankrupcty judge on Friday extended the deadline for General Development financing plan and ordered Okemos, an OEM computer manufacturer, has introduced a new line of modular micro computer systems. The Series i has, among its innovative features, a unique modular design which allows a large range of processing poer. MICHIGAN Insurance trustees must resign SOUTHFIELD Three life-insurance fund trustees were ordered Friday to resign by May 15 and to account for the union fund's finances by May 1. U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Hackett's ruling applied to Carl Volpe, John Schlicken-mayer and John Bates of Bricklayers Local 44 in Lathrup Village.

At issue was the Tile, Marble. Terrazzo, Marble Shopmen Precast Pan- 5 12 19 26 2 March Apr. h- source: i-ederai Heserve board Lansing State Journal. a.