Reckitt Benckiser fined $1.7m for misleading claims about Nurofen’s ‘pain specific’ relief
Reckitt Benckiser has been ordered to pay a $1.7m fine after being found guilty of misleading consumers with claims Nurofen could target specific pain.
The fine is a victory for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and for ABC series The Checkout, which called out the misleading branding in a segment broadcast in 2013.
The ACCC launched the action in the Federal Court, which found in a December ruling that the active ingredient in the pain-specific products was no different to that found in standard Nurofen and ordered the products off the shelves.
The company marketed the products as targeting a number of different pains, including back pain, period pain, migraine pain and tension headache.
What a joke.
They sell that much product nationally in a day.
What’s the bet Reckitts is out celebrating the fine tonight……. That would be a one week marketing budget for the in OZ.
The fine is not substantive enough & is ridiculously small.
Another toothless tiger result.
same should apply to all the other paracetemol tablets claiming to cure osteo, etc
This is what happens when marketing people make decisions all by themselves.
The ACCC has done effectively nothing; meaning, this move has actually been a tremendous success. Shame.
It’s decisions like these that justify for the need for tax relief for big business in tomorrow’s budget.