Nurofen....aussie Court Rules Misleading Packaging On Some Nurofen Products

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35094918

This kind of sharp practise by UK-based Reckitt Benckiser is widespread.
If consumers only used their common sense, they wouldn't be able to get away with it. It has been brought up by Watchdog before and yet some people still pay 2-3 times more than they should for the identical drug in generic form, including a sister-in-law of mine. She insists that the generic ones "don't work as well" ?

[douglas9401]

Mind you it's hard to get cheap generic painkillers in Australia because the parrots eat 'em all.

I'll get me coat.

[bednobs]

this story isn't really about that though mikey - its more about their different brnds, not branded Vs generic

[Tilly2]

2 or 3 times more is a bit of an understatement, Mikey.
Ibuprofen 32p
16 Nurofen £2.50 or more.

[mikey4444]

All anybody has to do is look at the PL...the Product Licence that is printed on the box. If its the same on two different boxes, one costing lots more than the other, buy the cheaper !

[mikey4444]

I shall do a quick bit of market research this morning in my local Co-op, and report back with how much money people could waste by not reading the labels !

[Old_Geezer]

I can see the objection, that it may be confusing and cause folk to think the formulation is specific to a particular ache; but I think it is a little over the top to ban them and call it sharp practice. Their explanation is not implausible, although the probability of extra sales was no doubt a driver. But as mentioned, folk only have to look at what the package says. If it is a painkiller the active ingredients are likely to be general ones.

As for generic versus branded, well that's folk's choice. Some gain from having confidence in the company selling the product, and if that costs more that's their option.

[mikey4444]

Markey Research in Co-op 10 mins ago !

Bayer's "Femimax" 200mg Ibuprofen x 16 = £4:18,

These were in a bright shocking pink box, just in case women miss them and walk by and buy the generic version instead.

Generic Ibuprofen 200mg x 16 = 39p !

Even Nurofen was only £2:45 for 16.

So....... the reason that drug companies sell these so-called "specialised Ibuprofen", is that they can make huge products selling at £4:19 instead of 39p. They are clearly exploiting the less credulous. Its got nothing whatsoever to do with their public statement :::::

"Nurofen said the products had been "designed to help the consumer easily navigate our range", particularly in groceries where there was no pharmacy.

Its to make inflated products out of people who more money than sense.

Is about time our authorities acted like the Ozzie ones and grow a pair of cojones and moved to challenge this clear case of misleading the public.

But it proves one this I suppose....no company ever became poorer by underestimating the gullibility of the public.

[Svejk]

^more credulous.?

[Sqad]

mikey....you are not comparing "like with like"

There are two compounds....Ibuprofen and ibuprofen Lysine.

Ibuprofen Lysine (e.g Femimax) has been shown to act more quickly and requires less dosage to produce an analgesic response.

However, I agree that the generic from and branded forms of Ibuprofen have an unreasonable range of price difference.

[mikey4444]

Sqad...I am comparing like with like ( I think ! )

The 200mg packet of "Feminax" had no mention of any Lysine on them....I think that is the 342mg pack.

But whether these tablets had Lysine in them or not is rather besides the point. Most women would have seen the eye-catching, bright shocking pink packet, with the addition of the clever marketing ploy of calling this very ordinary product a name with "FEM" in it and bought it accordingly.

I have done a little research into this, with females of my acquaintance, including 3 sister-in-laws and 3 nieces and they all said that they would buy the Feminax, even the niece is a highly trained Paediatric Nurse, currently working in a SCBU !

[pixie374]

It's just business. I doubt many people really think there's an actual difference.... they'll charge what they can get. As long as they aren't lying on the box, you'd expect them to try what they could.

[hc4361]

Don't you think that marketing a drug for 'period pain' is misleading when it is for any pain?

[pixie374]

That's hardly rocket science.

[jno]

the only Nurofen I saw in Tesco today was "targeted at headaches". That sounds like piffle to me - as hc4361 says, I would have thought it was for any pain. But maybe it magically cures your headache while leaving your sore foot still hurting?

[hc4361]

That's the point, though. You shouldn't need to be a rocket scientist or in any way 'intelligent' to do your shopping without being ripped off.

[wolf63]

I have to admit that I thought that the Feminax had something extra added to them for period cramps. I used them for a short period (!!) and they didn't seem to work any better than normal ibuprofen - so I bought the normal ones.

These days I can only take Paracetamol and I use Tesco's own brand.

[pixie374]

No, but the majority of companies and advertisers do it. I think you're allowed to mislead, but not lie. Anyway, advertising it for period pain would reduce potential customers by about 80 percent...

[hc4361]

It is piffle, jno. I wonder how many people have packets of painkillers specifically for period pain, tension headache, backache not realising they are the same things.

I've been buying generic, super cheap packets of paracetamol, ibuprofen, loperamide (Imodium) and antihistamines for years. Must have saved a small fortune

[hc4361]

That would be fair enough, pixie, if they weren't charging more than their Ibuprofen for general pain relief. Brands can charge what they like but to increase their own prices for different packaging, as Nurofen and others do, is wrong.

[pixie374]

I think it's expected- as long as they don't actually lie on it. They will charge whatever people are happy to pay. That's no different anywhere really.