THE MAKERS OF Nurofen should be fined $6 million (just over €4 million) for misleading customers, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has found.
In December the country’s federal court found that manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser, a British company, had misled people by advertising certain products as targeting specific types of pain despite containing the same active ingredient.
The court ordered that the products in question, which supposedly targeted migraines, back pain, period pain and tension headaches, be removed from shelves within three months.
All the products contained 342mg of ibuprofen lysine, which gives faster relief than standard ibuprofen, and cost up to twice as much as regular Nurofen products.
ABC reports that in a hearing to determine penalties lawyers for Reckitt Benckiser told the court “rational” consumers would not think a pain-specific product was any more effective than a regular one.
However, Katrina Banks-Smith SC, the barrister for the ACCC, said Reckitt Benckiser made “substantial profits” from its misleading marketing and a large fine was warranted.
She said consumers “purchased a product they thought was special and it wasn’t”.
During the hearing, Justice James Edelman joked that the weight of the evidence may induce a headache. He has reserved his decision on the penalty until next week.
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