Healthy Skepticism Library item: 9993

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Publication type: news

Burke K.
Ribena's dash of humility
The Age (Melbourne) 2007 May 8
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/ribenas-dash-of-humility/2007/05/07/1178390225764.html

Full text:

A court case hit Ribena’s sales.

THE laboratories of the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company are sophisticated enough to develop and manufacture vaccines for cancer. But when it comes to measuring the vitamin C content in children’s drink, GlaxoSmithKline just plain got it wrong, the company’s Australian managing director has admitted. And now he is apologising personally.

“We have to say sorry, we’ve messed up,” John Sayers said yesterday. “We made mistakes.”

GlaxoSmithKline has launched a TV campaign to apologise to Australian and New Zealand consumers. An advertisement features Mr Sayers strolling through a blackcurrant plantation in New Zealand, telling viewers: “The testing method used was unreliable and we were unaware of that at the time. We may have also given the impression that there was four times the vitamin C in Ribena than in orange juice … that was incorrect. We are sincerely sorry for any confusion caused.”

Mr Sayers says the ready-to-drink product was being reformulated, but the Ribena syrups, which were not affected by the testing problems, “remained a rich source of vitamin C”.

The advertisement, which is part of a $1.3 million “sorry” campaign that includes print media, goes well beyond the penalties imposed on the company in the Auckland District Court five weeks ago for making misleading claims.

While pleading guilty and receiving a $NZ227,500 ($A203,000) fine, GlaxoSmithKline fought successfully to avoid making a public apology on national television. In Australia, the company reported itself to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, avoiding major penalties.

Yesterday, Mr Sayers said the decision to run the campaign was made to regain consumer trust. The breach of that trust cost the company about $1 million through a 30 per cent drop in Ribena sales in the two weeks following the court case, he said.