Australian Court Increases Fine Over 'misleading' Nurofen

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-38337217

I have been following this story with great interest. Drug companies have been trying to make vast sums of money, by relying on the inability of the general public to see through scams like this.

Perhaps Reckitt Benckiser will have their corporate minds concentrated now.

[Cloverjo]

They will do whatever they can to maximise profits, of course.
You can buy the same thing for many types of pain for 30p in the supermarket.

I know some people are blinded by ads and packaging don't accept that the generic equivalent is just as good.

My friend asked me for a Neurofen once. I gave her my cheap supermarket ibuprofen. She said she needed 'the proper one'. Sigh.

[mikey4444]

Jo....a fool and his or her money is soon parted !

But to be honest, when a major company makes it all look so plausible, who can blame some people for being misled ?

[Sqad]

mikey/Jo.

Unlike the vast majority of sciences, there is a little more to Materia Medica than the active component of a tablet. The colour also seems to be important, change it and in many cases the therapeutic effect my be diminished or completely removed according to some studies. If a patient is getting a satisfactory response from a drug , whatever the cost then to change it to the generic form often leads to problems.
Give them what they want, not necessarily what they need...and in that way Pharmaceutical companies will survive, offer something that they don't want, then companies will not survive........in any aspect of business.

[mikey4444]

Morning Sqad !

I think I understand what you are saying here but the issue was that the company was making false claims, in order to make even more money.

To use a nice girly pink colour for the box the tablets are sold in, in order to try to convince people that it was specially for girls, seems to me to be deeply dishonest.

What if the same company sold tablets in nice blue boxes and then told people that it was especially effective against the pain inflicted by a football in the rowlocks ?

[Sqad]

Morning mikey......point taken.
Business is all about survival and making money............and marketing plays an important role.

[Old_Geezer]

Fine by me.

Is there a large market of folks getting hit by someone's balls, in the rowlocks ?

[mikey4444]

Lying seems to be important as well !

By the way, what is the weather like with you ? Its at this time of year, that I fee that I could quite comfortably live on the Riviera, or maybe somewhere similar !

[mikey4444]

OG...could be, but there seems to be a complete shortage of "Special Boys Tablets", unlike the ones for ladies. I wonder why that is ?

A conclusion could be drawn that women are more likely to be fooled by packaging and daft claims, then men !

[Sqad]

mikey...the last 4 weeks has been magnificent....daily sunshine, blue skies and sun bathing in December still the order of the day (and no tourists).
Yesterday however there is a change in the air indicating a change of weather pattern.

[Sqad]

\\\ "Special Boys Tablets", unlike the ones for ladies. I wonder why that is ? \

Period pains are not as bad in boys as in "girls."...;-)

[Baldric]

If only you could afford it, eh Mikey?
;o)

[Cloverjo]

Mikey, I guess it's because we can all have every other type of pain, but only women have periods.
I've never heard a man say "I've got a pain in my rowlocks (

[mikey4444]

Sqad......its been a long time since I had a ball in the rowlocks, but the memory of it stays with me !

Actually, there some little blue pills that can help us chaps out these days....apparently !

[mikey4444]

Jo....you have never payed rugby then !

Or cricket for that matter !

[Sqad]

mikey.....LOL.

ALL women have periods, but not all men play cricket or football.

[aelmpvw]

football, cricket? stretching over the snooker table for a shot has its hidden dangers

[Baldric]

Real men play Rugby!

[Prudie]

The psychological factor, hinted at by sqad up there, is however much more of a player than you think mikey. The pink targeted period pain tablets genuinely worked much better for me than the equivalent off a supermarket shelf (and that was before I knew they were the same active thing).

[mikey4444]

If you think that, and it worked for you, then I am glad for you.

But the action taken in Oz was to make sure that people are not led astray by false claims in the future. I can remember a similar item to this appearing "Watchdog" some time ago.

Its about being correctly informed. If people are made aware that there is no difference between two products, just the misleading packaging, then they are free to carry on as they wish. Its about choice.

[Prudie]

I'm not arguing with you, we've all been hoodwinked I'm just saying if you are given a pill that says it specifically targets migraine pain for example that may have some psychological extra effect that makes it actually work (similar to that shown in many experiments using placebos).