The maker of Ribena has launched an advertising campaign apologising for having misled consumers in New Zealand and Australia over the popular blackcurrant drink's vitamin C content.
GlaxoSmithKline pleaded guilty in an Auckland court in March to 15 charges of breaching fair trading laws, after two schoolgirls tested its claim that the blackcurrants in Ribena had four times the vitamin C of oranges, but found almost no traces of the vitamin in Ribena. GSK was fined $227,500.
The firm said in a statement on Monday that it had launched a television and print campaign in Australia and New Zealand apologising for stating an incorrect vitamin C content. The firm also says sorry for claiming that blackcurrants contain four times the vitamin C of oranges, because it may have misled consumers into believing Ribena contained four times the level of vitamin C than in the same quantity of orange juice. "The testing method we used to determine the level of vitamin C in the ready-to-drink Ribena products was unreliable but we were unaware of that at the time," Australian managing director John Sayers said in a statement.
The firm said it planned to develop a new formulation for the ready-to-drink form of Ribena and introduce new testing methods. "We know we've got a lot of work to do if we hope to rebuild consumer trust in this brand. From the moment we've known there was a problem, we've been working hard to fix it," said Sayers.
Ribena, first made in the 1930s and distributed to British children during World War 2, is now sold in 22 countries.
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