Wrigley Healthcare Launches Tax Hotline To Ease Stress and Burn of Tax Season; 1-866-HOT-TAXES...

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2001

In an effort to help stop stress before it starts this tax season, Wrigley Healthcare, the makers of new Surpass(R) antacid chewing gum, has set up a toll-free tax relief hotline today, 1-866-HOT-TAXES.

The hotline

will be staffed with certified accountants to answer questions about filing taxes. And, for those suffering from stress-related heartburn due to taxes, registered dietitians also will be available to offer tips on preventing and relieving heartburn. The hotline will be operational April 2 to April 15 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST and from 9 a.m. to midnight CST on Tax Day, April 16.

"Often times, stress leads to poor dietary habits--like eating on the run or overindulging in unhealthy foods--which can cause heartburn," said Mary Donkersloot, registered dietitian and author of The Fast-Food Diet: Quick and Healthy Eating at Home and On the Go. "Heartburn can become so severe, sufferers may experience interrupted sleep or even the inability to perform their job."

Tax season is the second most stressful occasion of the year, just behind the December holidays, according to the Surpass Stress Survey released today by Wrigley Healthcare(1). With that stress often comes heartburn, which affects 25 million people in the U.S. each day(2). Wrigley Healthcare, a new division of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, is offering heartburn and tax time stress relief with the introduction of Surpass(R) antacid chewing gum.

Surpass antacid chewing gum provides fast-acting, long-lasting relief from heartburn and acid indigestion without the chalky taste of some other leading antacids(3).

Headquartered in Chicago, Wrigley Healthcare is a new division of the 110-year-old Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. Wrigley Healthcare offers products that use chewing gum as a fast-acting, good-tasting vehicle for the delivery of active ingredients to provide health benefits and relief to consumers. The first product introduction is Surpass, a great-tasting antacid chewing gum that offers long-lasting heartburn relief.

Sources:

1. Impulse Research on behalf of Wrigley Healthcare, February 2001.

2. National Institutes of Health, January 2001.

3. Data on file.