School experiment sinks Ribena in court
Tuesday March 27, 4:08 PM
The global giant which makes Ribena pleaded guilty Tuesday to
making misleading claims about the drink's health benefits after
being exposed by two New Zealand teenage girls in a school science
project.
GlaxoSmithKline's embarrassment stemmed from a test done by Anna
Devathasan and Jenny Suo at an Auckland high school three years ago
which cast doubt on the company's claims about Ribena's vitamin C
content.
Their findings were initially ignored by the firm but came to the
attention of the Commerce Commission, a business watchdog, which
took the company to court.
The multinational firm was fined 217,500 dollars (156,100 US) in
the Auckland District Court Tuesday for breaching fair trading laws
with claims about the vitamin C content of the popular blackcurrant
drink.
It was also ordered to run advertisements detailing the true
contents of the drink, which first became popular in Britain when
fruit became scarce in World War II. Ribena is now sold in at least
20 countries worldwide.
Earlier the company admitted in court that its cartoned
ready-to-drink Ribena had no detectable vitamin C, despite claims
it contained seven milligrams per 100 millilitres.
The company also admitted it may have misled customers in
advertisements saying blackcurrants had four times the vitamin C of
oranges.
Commerce Commission lawyer Nicholas Flanagan told the court the
product was marketed as being healthy when in fact it contained
more sugar than Coca-Cola.
Devathasan and Suo -- then aged 14 -- conducted tests showing
Ribena syrup contained lower levels of vitamin C than some other
fruit juice-based drinks.
The girls said they were ignored when they approached the
company.
"They didn't even really answer our questions. They just said it's
the blackcurrants that have it, then they hung up," Suo said last
week.
But a television consumer rights show later picked up the story and
brought it to the attention of the Commerce Commission.
Devathasan and Suo, now 17, were in court Tuesday morning to see
the case begin but missed the verdict because they had to return to
school for a drama production.
Devathasan later said they were overwhelmed that their simple
experiment had led to a court conviction.
"We're just blown away that anything we could have started could
have blown up to something so huge," she told Radio New
Zealand.
"Considering we were only 14 at the time, it's been a huge
day."
Commerce Commission chairman Paula Rebstock paid tribute to the
sleuthing efforts of the school girls.
"They're just fantastic. I think they are a true inspiration to
everyone," she said.
A chastened GlaxoSmithKline said it has already changed its
labelling and advertising to remove the misleading and incorrect
information.
"The fact that some of our products had incorrect labelling is to
us, unacceptable, and we sincerely regret any confusion caused to
customers who feel they may have been misled," it said after the
conviction.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070327/1/47ivo.html
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