"My boys now call me Mum, the Myth Buster!"

The actor's young children may have been convinced by the performance, but the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was not. "Coke's messages were totally unacceptable, creating an impression which is likely to mislead that Coca-Cola cannot contribute to weight gain, obesity and tooth decay," said the ACCC's chairman, Graeme Samuel. "[The ads] also had the potential to mislead parents about the potential consequences of consuming Coca-Cola." Today, Coca-Cola South Pacific gave the ACCC court-enforceable undertakings to publish corrective advertisements in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, The Courier Mail, the Adelaide Advertiser, The West Australian, and the Hobart Mercury, as well as on the company's own website.

The correct level of caffeine for Diet Coca-Cola must be included in the corrective advertisements, the ACCC has ruled, because of the false claims in the original campaign that the soft drink contained about one third the amount of caffeine as tea, when in fact the soft drink had well over half the caffeine content of tea. The ACCC began investigating Coca-Cola after a complaint was lodged jointly by the Obesity Policy Coalition, The Parents Jury and the Australian Dental Association. The Obesity Policy Coalition's senior policy adviser, Jane Martin, described the ACCC's action as a major victory for Australian consumers.

"Coca-Cola, in an attempt to reach the 'mum-market', tried to soothe concerns about the unhealthy aspects of their products, but this has back-fired,'' Ms Martin said. "Coca-Cola's promotion points clearly to a need for better food labelling so food and drinks can be seen for what they are, rather than allowing marketing spin to dress them up as something that they are not.''

The president of the Australian Dental Association, Dr Neil Hewson, said consumers had a right to accurate information about the products they buy, "especially when the consumption of sugary, fizzy drinks are likely to contribute substantially to Australia's escalating childhood obesity epidemic and cause significant dental health problems''. Coca-Cola South Pacific has issued a statement stating the intention of the ads was to balance the debate about whether the soft drink could be justified as part of a balanced diet and lifestyle. "We certainly did not intend our message to be misleading and we have been working with the ACCC to address its concerns. The ACCC were concerned we oversimplified some complex topics and we acknowledge we should have provided more information,'' the statement said. The corrective advertisements, which the company has entitled "Setting the Record Straight'' will be published on Saturday and will not involve Armstrong, who has remained silent throughout the controversy until today.

Armstrong told Armstrong told

today she would not comment on the advertisements, but said: "The campaign that I did has passed and gone and I haven't made any comment yet - nor am I going to - because there were things that happened that were out of my control as well.''

