• Ad Age, Friday, June 19, 2009 10:49 AM

The acting president of Matrixx Initiatives, which markets Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gels and swabs, says he will "vehemently counter" the Food and Drug Administration letter that warns that the products can cause temporary or permanent loss of smell but he realizes that changing the agency's mind is probably a futile pursuit, Marissa Miley reports.

Bill Hemelt indicates that the company will encourage consumers to use Zicam oral products instead. The FDA has not taken issue with those products. Hemelt doesn't know yet if it will take additional marketing to rebuild the brand when two new oral products are launched later in the year but he tells Miley that he hopes not.

Matrixx is working with its PR firm, Golin Harris, to reach out to consumers on the Internet and through social media to calm safety concerns. "We are going to be communicating through all sorts of those -- Twitter, Facebook -- and get our story out," Hemelt says. "There probably will be an open letter to consumers that will be published in newspapers."

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