July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Unilever NV pulled advertisements for its Slim-Fast diet products that feature Whoopi Goldberg after the comic made a sexual pun on U.S. President George W. Bush's name at a fund-raiser for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Goldberg spoke at a dinner for Kerry last week at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Her comments prompted Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman to call for a public release of a tape of the event.

To stem a sales decline at the unit, Unilever had hired Goldberg to ``shake the notion of just shakes.'' The ads for Slim- Fast, the biggest company in the $40 billion-a-year diet and weight control industry, featured Goldberg, who began the diet in November.

``We are disappointed by the manner in which Ms. Goldberg chose to express herself and sincerely regret that her recent remarks offended some of our consumers,'' Terry Olson, general manager and vice president of marketing for Slim-Fast, said in a statement. ``Ads featuring Ms. Goldberg will no longer be on the air.''

Spokeswoman Jennifer Goldin declined to say whether the company had any sales decrease due to the comments.

Goldberg's Response

``While I can appreciate what the Slim-Fast people need to do in order to protect their business, I must also do what I need to do as an artist, as a writer and as an American, not to mention as a comic,'' Goldberg said in an e-mailed statement.

``I've done material on every president in the past 20 years, from Reagan to Carter, from Clinton to Bush,'' Goldberg said, adding that ``it seems now that people from the other side are using this to further their own agenda.''

Unilever, based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, is the world's largest maker of food and soap. The company has been trying to reverse last year's sales decline at its Slim-Fast unit by introducing products that are low in carbohydrates to attract consumers trying to control their weight by limiting their sugar intake. Slim-Fast sales declined 21 percent last year, damping the growth of Unilever's 400 biggest brands.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nadja Brandt in Los Angeles at rogoszynski@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 14, 2004 20:02 EDT