Merisant Worldwide Inc., the privately-held company behind sugar substitute Equal, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company reported a debt load of more than half a billion dollars back in November, and the company's declining market share in the face of competitors like Splenda combined with a lack of financial flexibility pushed it into bankruptcy.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the company plans to convert a significant amount of its debt into equity and doesn't even think it will have to lay off employees. CEO Paul Block said the filing will free up cash to invest in supporting PureVia, a new product recently launched in partnership with PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP). Merisant is selling it in packets and Pepsi will be using it in some of its products.

No word yet on whether Pepsi is so sure a partner's bankruptcy will have no effect on their relationship. And a bankruptcy in a recession for a company with declining market share that won't result in job cuts or any other impact on operations?

It sounds like the corporate spin machine is running on overdrive.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

I never paid that much attention to the pink and yellow and blue packets on the table when my wife and I go out for breakfast a couple of times a week. I'm not a consumer of artificial sweeteners, so when I learned that we wanted to add one more match-up to our Battle of the Brands feature, this one focusing on Splenda and Equal, and that it was going to be up to me pull it together, I thought: Oh boy, what am I going to have to say about that?

But I've never been one to pass up an opportunity to learn something new. I began with what I did know, which wasn't much: the makers of Splenda and Equal were in the news recently -- something about misleading advertising and sour grapes. Besides, weren't these yellow and blue packets really second banana to the ubiquitous Sweet'N Low pink packets? Shows how much I know: turns out Sweet'N Low's virtual monopoly on the artificial sweetener market ended back in the 1980s, when Equal took the lead. Since Splenda was introduced in 1999, however, it has exploded, with sales of more than $200 million in 2006, or about 60% of the U.S. artificial sweetener market. Equal's sales have dropped about $30 million in that time, while sales of sugar have dropped $85 million. No wonder sugar producers and the makers of Equal have gone after the makers of Splenda in court.

For someone who doesn't know his blue packet from his yellow packet, what really is the difference between them?