ACCC targets Reckitt Benckiser alleging false and misleading packaging claims on Nurofen

Consumer watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is to launch court action against the makers of Nurofen alleging it misled consumers over claims on its packaging that its medication can provide pain relief to specific areas.

The ACCC will take Reckitt Benckiser to Federal Court at the end of the month alleging products for back pain, period pain, migraine pain, and tension headache misled consumers into thinking that they were designed and formulated to treat a particular type of pain, despite being identical.

“In this case, we allege that consumers have been misled into purchasing Nurofen Specific Pain Products under the belief that each product is specifically designed for and effective in treating a particular type of pain, when this is not the case,” said Rod Sims ACCC Chairman.

The court action comes after Reckitt Benckiser was reprimanded by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in 2013 over its claims of “targeted relief” and forced to remove “any representations that the advertised products target the source of pain or cause of pain”.