Ribena misleader

Ribena’s in the custard and on the front page of the New Zealand Herald today. A real David and Goliath case. The Herald article notes GSK’s (GlaxoSmithKline) TV advertising for Ribena said

“the blackcurrents in Ribena have four times the vitamin C of oranges”.

Apparently not.

The Herald reports two 14 year old Pakuranga College students tested the vitamin C levels in Ribena, Just Juice and Arano for a school chemistry experiment and found ready-to-drink Ribena had no detectable level of vitamin C!

What’s interesting is that when the students contacted GSK to let them know this they were given short shrift. So they contacted the Advertising Standards Authority and BrandPower but still didn’t get anywhere. But when the TV programme Fair Go picked up the story and suggested the girls contact the Commerce Commission things started to roll.

GSK will appear in court this week facing charges alleging 15 breaches of the Fair Trading Act brought by the Commerce Commission. If successfully prosecuted, the company faces a maximum fine of $200,000 on each charge or a total of $3 million.

The Commerce Commission said although blackcurrents had more vitamin C than oranges, this was not true of Ribena. Shades of the Kryptonite bike lock debacle.

GSK – the world’s second largest food and pharmaceutical company with worldwide turnover of $61 billion – held to account by two teenage school girls. Interestingly – especially in advance of the findings of next weeks court appearances, GSK Australia apparently dobbed itself in to the Australian equivalent of the Commerce Commission admitting it had been misleading in its claims for Ribena’s vitamin C content.

A successful prosecution may dent their image momentarily. Any fines are likely to be paid quickly and without fuss. Advertising campaigns will be replaced. The prosecutions are unlikely, in real terms, to have any long term adverse effect on the company because of its sheer size.

Smaller product and service providers don’t have this luxury. The lesson for us? To make sure whatever claims we make are factually correct in the first place. Citizen marketing and pressure is huge. If any claims made are found to be incorrect, act swiftly and with integrity to withdraw any claims and make good as appropriate.

Personally, I don’t drink Ribena, not because if its lack of vitamin C, but because in my view it has a reputation for being full of sugar which may or may not be correct. That’s what it used to be like years ago and it’s something I still associate with the product. It’s a fickle thing, reputation. And one that affects purchase decisions for years to come.