- New Ad Campaign Touts Carb Options(TM) Line as One Answer to Carb-Counters' Longing for 'Taste You Can Count On' -

NEW YORK, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Carb Options(TM) line of sauces, marinades, salad dressings, peanut spread, bars and shakes from Unilever Bestfoods is quickly becoming all the rage with consumers seeking delicious, familiar foods that they can use as part of a low-carb diet at prices they can afford. Now the company is about to roll out another 14 great-tasting products, almost doubling the number of options available to the more than 30 to 50 million Americans who are currently limiting their intake of carbohydrates, but are unwilling to sacrifice flavor or variety.

The new products, including Carb Options Ketchup from Hellman's(R), Carb Options Green Tea from Lipton(R), Carb Options Hearty Italian-Style Sauce with Sausage from Ragu(R), Carb Options Instant Noodle Soup from Lipton(R), and Carb Options Chunky Peanut Spread from Skippy(R), will begin shipping this week to retailers and will appear next month on store shelves in supermarkets nationwide. "The idea of offering carb-counting consumers an assortment of great-tasting new products from brands they know and love -- and making them available where they already shop -- seems to have really taken off," notes Lisa Klauser, vice president of marketing for Unilever Bestfoods. "The positive feedback we've seen from consumers and retailers has exceeded our expectations."

New national advertising for Carb Options breaks this week on network and cable television, consisting at first of a 30-second spot titled "Temptation," created by OgilvyOne Worldwide. The campaign focuses tightly on delectable foods prepared with Carb Options products and is designed to tempt flavor- starved, carb-counting consumers with the tagline, 'Taste You Can Count On.'

Unilever Bestfoods unveiled the first round of innovative new products in January 2004, and is the first major food manufacturer in the United States to offer carb-aware consumers such an extensive range of quality products.

People interested in learning more about the line can visit www.carboptions.com. The Web site, created by OgilvyOne Worldwide, contains dozens of creative, but simple recipes for meals and snacks that fit a low- carb diet, a number of which were developed by famed Latino chef and restaurateur, Douglas Rodriguez, himself an advocate of cutting carbs but not taste from foods, as well as special offers, and an online newsletter, and more.

Visitors to this site are the inspiration behind the development of a number of the new products in the Carb Options line, such as the new ketchup and decaffeinated tea, as are results of a survey(1) conducted by Impulse Research Corporation that found the number one complaint of respondents who are attempting to stick to a low carb diet is " ... giving up and missing their favorite foods," followed closely by cries of lack of variety in the range of meals and snacks they consider acceptable to eat while watching their carbohydrates.

"We're listening and responding to American consumers who are asking us for even more products from the great-tasting brands they know and love for use as part of their low-carb diets," said Klauser. "And as long as consumers stay hungry for Carb Options products, you can bet that Unilever Bestfoods will keep cooking up more terrific products to add to this unique line."

UNILEVER BACKGROUND:

Unilever is one of the world's largest consumer products companies with annual sales of approximately $48 billion in 2003. It produces and markets a wide range of foods and home and personal care products. Unilever operates in around 100 countries around the globe and employs approximately 250,000 people.

   (1) This research project was conducted in order to learn about attitudes
       and behaviors concerning low carb diets.  The survey was conducted
       online with two populations: a random sample of 1,508 men and women
       representing a cross-section of the U.S. and 1,500 men and women in
       10 major U.S. cities -- all members of the CyberPulse(TM) Advisory
       Panel. The Advisory Panel has been carefully selected to closely
       match U.S. population demographics.  Research was conducted in
       December 2003. The margin of error for each survey is +/- 2.5% at the
       95% level of confidence.