[Future Useless Eater]

Slim-Fast is starting to buckle under $1.2 BILLION dollars of pressure!

The weight loss giant is apparently reacting to a huge backlash from consumers, and worried investors, after their spokesperson, Whoopi Goldberg, lobbed vulgar obscenities at President Bush this weekend. John Kerry failed to condemn those attacks supposedly because the event brought in $7.5 Million for the Democrats. Instead, Kerry praised the celebrities for conveying "the heart and soul of our country."

The parent company, Unilever [trading symbol UN] was referring all correspondence and complaints about Goldberg's hate-speech, to Slim-Fast's marketing dept. A great many angry conservatives also reported, their successes in reaching sympathetic ears at Slim-Fast: (I just received a call from Slimfast), and (Goodbye Slimfast!).

Wall Street has noticed, as Neil Cavuto reported yesterday; the 2% drop in Unilever's stock price Tuesday was attributed a new Conservative boycott of its subsidiary Slim-Fast.

That amounts to a one-day LOSS of $1.2 BILLION dollars for shareholders!

---

Unilever has a great deal to lose, as it's stock has a market value of 61B, and sells a great many well-known consumer products; some of which are...

---

Anyone may comment online to Slim-Fast for their continuing use of Whoopi Goldberg as their advertising spokesperson.

[CDHart]

I sent them a message on Monday -- guess I'll do another one today!

Carolyn

[Trteamer]

I fired off an e-mail to Slim Fast when the first post came out. I told them I would start using Slim Fast again when Whoopi's face was off their website. Bye-bye Whoopi! LOL!

[BunnySlippers]

The only one I use is Best Food mayo. But I'll get on the phone to Slim Fast.

[MinuteGal]

I emailed the corporation and expounded on the fact that I refuse to feed the hand that bites me (and my president and my country).

From the list of products posted, I thought that Unilever makes Dove ice cream bars, not Dove soap. Now, THERE I would draw the line, heheh.

Leni

[End Times Sentinel]

Freep ‘em all!!! Let God Sort ‘Em Out!!!

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[jmstein7]

Well done!

[RedCobra]

Slim Fast got the message, now let's give the libocrats the same treatment by boycotting Kerry at the polls with a vote for President Bush!

[joesnuffy]

Whooopi Goldberg....a prophet of "Kerry Nation"

Its amazing the kinds of sludge a thorough plunging of a backed up bathtub will bring up.....

[MitchellC]

Boycott?

I think they finally just realized that no one wants to look like Whoopi...

[NautiNurse]

The weight loss giant is apparently reacting to a huge backlash from consumers, and worried investors

WOW! That's a big backlash!

[Old Grumpy]

This is priceless! I love the Marines with the sign!

[joesbucks]

Hate to rain on your parade, but....This drop is based on 1st qtr sales drop, not the sudden Whoopi controversy

Unilever shares down on sales stall 'Action being taken' to address sales disappointment By Emily Church, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 9:46 AM ET April 28, 2004 LONDON (CBS.MW) - Shares of Unilever dropped over 6 percent on Wednesday after the Anglo-Dutch consumer and food products giant said sales of its key brands rose a disappointing 1.3 percent in the first quarter amid flat pricing and growing competition.

Unilever (UN: news, chart, profile) (UL: news, chart, profile) said it was "not happy with its short-term sales performance.. While there are clear signs of an improving economic outlook we are also currently seeing an increased level of competitor activity in some key markets."

Swiss rival Nestle SA (NSRGY: news, chart, profile) last week posted a 3.4 percent rise in its key real internal growth sales measure, bolstered by pet food sales.

At Unilever, faltering sales in the Slim Fast diet drink, Prestige Fragrances and frozen foods cut leading brands sales growth by 1 percent.

The group has a long-term target for 3-5 percent growth in its leading brands. Analysts had been looking for the key sales measurement to show an increase of at least 2 percent in the first quarter after a 0.7 percent rise in the fourth quarter.

"We knew this was going to be a tough quarter, but we didn't know it was going to be this tough," said Lex Werkheim of Eureffect in Amsterdam. "They'll need a turbo quarter to reach their target (for 3 percent to 5 percent growth in leading brands), and that's going to be pretty hard to achieve."

Unilever said "action is being taken to address this" disappointment in sales.

Leading brands sales rose 2.5 percent in 2003. The segment accounted for 93 percent of sales last year. For this year, company executives confirmed on a conference call that they are maintaining expectations for leading brands sales growth to improve on 2003.

Unilever said pre-tax profit in the first quarter declined 8 percent to 931 million euros ($1.1 billion) while sales declined 2 percent to 9.788 billion euros, reflecting some disposals. Net profit dropped 15 percent to 530 euros, largely reflecting tax profits on disposals.

Shares in London (UK:ULVR: news, chart, profile) dropped 6.5 percent in morning trade to 525 pence a share, helping to drag the FTSE 100 lower. See London Markets

Analysts were cautious on the stock's prospects after the results.

"With this lackluster start to the year, we believe that the group's ability to deliver targeted low double-digit earnings growth this year will be questioned," Merrill Lynch told clients.

Deutsche Bank said Unilever's 30 basis point rise in margins missed its expectations and pointed to increasing competition in Europe and Japan.

"The contrast between Unilever's disappointing numbers and the good figures from Reckitt Benckiser, Danone (DA: news, chart, profile) and Nestle is stark," the German bank said.

Overall, underlying sales grew by 0.4 percent. Unilever said sales of leading brands rose 1.3 percent amid flat pricing. Brands include Lipton teas, Knorr soups and Hellmann's mayonnaise in foods and Dove soaps and Surf detergent in household products.

Commenting on European markets, "Germany, France and the Netherlands have been particularly difficult and we have lost some market share in spreads and laundry."

In the U.S., Unilever said underlying sales declined by 1.8 percent "in weak markets, including a positive 0.6 percent from price." It said Slim-Fast and prestige fragrances diluted growth by 2.1 percent and that sales, including the impact of disposals, declined by 4 percent.

[Fixit]

Inspired by Freeper dandi

[OldFriend]

According to newspaper reports, the CEO of Slim Fast has donated huge sums of money in an effort to defeat President Bush.

Time to let them know what we think of that, too.

[biblewonk]

I gotcher unilever.

[prairiebreeze]

Crud. Hellmann's mayo was bad enough but now Country Crock too?

Sigh.....

[PGalt]

VRWC economic POWER bump!

[StriperSniper]

$1.2 BILLION FReep!!!

[stainlessbanner]

bttt

[Huck]

vulgar obscenities

As opposed to....tasteful obscenities? Just playing....great story. Haha whoopsi!