The Grammy award winner music icon Taylor Swift is Diet Coke's latest endorser. Her soda advertisement sent sparks to CSPI as it may induce cancer risk to her fans due to aspartame consumption. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) sent an open letter to Swift explaining that endorsing Diet Coke might be better than endorsing the original one it may bring harm to her fans. Aspartame is the artificial sweetener used in Diet Coke. The sweetener has caused cancer to animals, stated in the letter, USA Today reported.
In the commercial itself, Swift showed her feline affection as several cats walked around her as she drinks a bottle of Diet Coke. The commercial ad was released Tuesday, according to Daily Mail UK.
However per CSPI, with her Diet Coke ad campaign, the music idol is doing more harm in encouraging bigger aspartame consumption, according to CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson, in a phone interview.
The said letter was very direct. Part of the letter reads, "Your endorsement carries great weight with your millions of young fans, to the extent that your endorsement encourages them to begin drinking Diet Coke, or to drink more, your endorsement is likely increasing your fans' risk of cancer."
Jacobson's group has sent same appeals to singer-celebrities like Beyonce and Katy Perry when they endorsed Pepsi products. CSPI do not expect endorsers to drop multi-million dollar ad contracts but was hoping that other celebrities would be sensitive to the consuming public's health care.
Coca Cola executives and Swift's representatives have not commented on this plea.