Healthy Skepticism Library item: 16635

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Greenhalgh T
The Ribena girls
BMJ 2009 Oct 14; 339:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/339/oct14_2/b4136

Abstract:

Here’s a splendid David and Goliath story about how two 14 year old girls exposed a false claim by the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Back in 2004 Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo were doing a school chemistry experiment to measure the amount of vitamin C in foods. They decided to test their cartons of “Ready to Drink” Ribena-and found that, contrary to the manufacturer’s claims, and in contrast with a fresh orange juice control, the drink contained almost no vitamin C (www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10431119). The girls initially assumed that they had made some mistake with the experiment. But after replicating their negative study repeatedly with help from their teachers, they contacted GSK and queried the advertising claim that the drink had “four times the vitamin C of oranges.”

Ignoring what was described as a “brush off” from the company’s complaints department, the youngsters contacted a newspaper and then a television . . .