JOHNSON & JOHNSON, SLOAN'S, GRISTEDE'S SPONSOR 3RD ANNUAL 50-PLUS EXPERIENCE

JUDY CORCORAN

NEW YORK -- Johnson & Johnson and Sloan's/Gristede's supermarkets here were among the sponsors of the third annual Fifty-Plus Experience, a two-day symposium for those 50 years old and above. .

Nearly 20,000 registrants attended the event, which was held at the Sheraton New York hotel May 21 to 22, according to Julie Frank, president of Julie Frank Enterprises, the event organizer. The seminars, displays, demonstrations and lectures featured experts and celebrities addressing such topics as financial planning, health, relationships, careers, technology and self-help. Participants could learn about their legal entitlements and ways in which to manage their credit and investments, how to speak to doctors, what's new on the grand-parenting front and how to spot prostate cancer. As an interactive event, Fifty-Plus also offered hands-on opportunities for participants to learn about computers and Tai Chi, and to sample healthy and delicious recipes.

Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J., contributed samples of products including Serenity, Lactaid, Mylanta, Advanced Care Cholesterol Test, Tylenol and Arthritis Foundation Pain Reliever. Shering Corp. also gave out samples of Claritol analgesic.

Other sponsors included the New York Times' advertising department, WOR Radio, Sony Theatres, the Long Island Railroad, Duane Reade Drugstores, European American Bank and Equitable.

To publicize the event, Sloan's and Gristede's displayed posters in-store and distributed 1 million plastic grocery bags with the program's agenda printed on one side. McCall's Magazine, another sponsor, ran a full-page ad in the New York Metro edition of its May issue.