NEW YORK (Oct. 16, 2003) - Colgate-Palmolive announces the introduction of the Colgate® Whitening toothbrush, the only manual toothbrush from Colgate designed to both clean and polish teeth to help reveal their natural whiteness.

The new Colgate Whitening toothbrush has unique soft polishers that help remove stains and polish teeth. Its soft rubber "elastomer" handle is comfortable and provides great brush control, while guiding multi-height bristles to reach deeply between teeth to remove plaque and residue. The Colgate Whitening toothbrush is scientifically proven to remove stains better than an ordinary toothbrush¹.

New products continue to drive growth in the toothbrush category, and new premium toothbrushes launched since 1999 now represent 44 percent of the manual toothbrush category². The manual segment remains the bulk of category volume³ and the premium segment continues to dominate⁴. Consumer demand for whitening products is still booming. In 2002 at-home whitening sales were up 110 percent vs. year ago, and 2002 whitening toothpaste sales were up 11 percent vs. year ago⁵.

"While whitening toothpaste represents 48 percent of toothpaste sales, whitening toothbrushes make up only one percent of all toothbrush sales⁶," says Suzan Harrison, Vice President & General Manager, Colgate U.S. Oral Care. "This represents a huge growth opportunity within the segment."

The new Colgate® Whitening toothbrush will first arrive in U.S. food, drug and mass merchandise stores in January 2004. The toothbrush will be available in three vibrant colors in Full Head Soft and Full Head Medium SKUs, and will have a retail average selling price of about $2.99 - price parity to the Colgate's other premium lines of Colgate® Massager™, Colgate® Navigator® and Colgate® Active Angle® toothbrushes.

Colgate Whitening will have a comprehensive support plan which will focus on driving trial and awareness via print advertising, FSIs, "Try-Me-Free Rebate" mixed displays, special packs, Internet, PR and account-specific programs.

Colgate-Palmolive is a leading global consumer products company tightly focused on Oral Care, Personal Care, Household Surface Care, Fabric Care and Pet Nutrition. In the U.S., Colgate sells its quality products under such nationally recognized brand names as Colgate®, Palmolive®, Mennen®, Ajax®, Irish Spring®, Softsoap® brand, Murphy® Oil Soap, Ultra Brite® and Fab®, as well as Hill's Science Diet® and Hill's Prescription Diet® pet foods. For more information about Colgate-Palmolive and its products, visit the company's Web site at www.Colgate.com.

To see a photo of the new Colgate® Whitening toothbrush, visit: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031015/COLGATE

¹ vs. Colgate Plus - Internal Colgate clinical study
² A.C. Nielsen FDKTO, Dollar Sales, Manual Adult new products since 1999, 1999-2002.
³ A.C. Nielsen Co. FDKTO, Total TB excl. Impl., EQ Share, YTD June 2003.
⁴ A.C. Nielsen Co. FDKTO, Total TB excl. Impl., Dollar Share, YTD June 2003.
⁵ A.C. Nielsen Co., FDKTO, Dollar Sales %Yag Chg, 2002
⁶ A.C. Nielsen Co., FDKTO, Dollar Share, YTD June 2003.