A science project launched by two teenage students in New Zealand has cost a huge multinational more than $180,000 and forced it to launch a nationwide ad campaign to correct claims about vitamin C in the popular Ribena blackcurrant drink.

“It goes to show that consumer action really can make a difference — we hope it inspires other consumers to hold companies to the promises they make,” Paula Rebstock, chair of New Zealand’s commerce commission, said in a release Tuesday.

WOW. My science projects were seriously less interesting. Glad I’m not in school these days.

Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo were 14-year-old students at Pakuranga College near Auckland in 2004 when they tested the vitamin C content of Ribena and other drinks for a science fair.
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They found Ribena did not contain the advertised level of vitamin C. GlaxoSmithKline didn’t reply when the students approached the firm with their findings, so they took their results to a TV show.

Then the commerce commission got involved, leading GlaxoSmithKline to plead guilty to 15 advertising-related charges on Tuesday.

The company agreed to pay $227,500 NZ fine (more than $180,000 Cdn.) and take out ads in newspapers saying that some kinds of Ribena have virtually no vitamin C, the commission said.

The two girls said they were pleased with the sentence, but thought the company should have been ordered to run TV ads as well, they told the New Zealand Herald.

Man that’s good stuff…

CBC via /.

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