This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The manufacturer of Nurofen has been fined $6m for misleading consumers. The federal court increased the penalty from $1.7m to $6m after an appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

In December 2015 the federal court found the British company Reckitt Benckiser, the manufacturer of the painkiller, had engaged in “misleading conduct” by representing that its Nurofen Specific Pain products targeted a type or area of pain despite being identical, and ordered they be removed from supermarket shelves within three months.

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Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension Headache all contain 342mg of ibuprofen lysine, and cost up to twice as much as its regular products.

Lawyers for the ACCC had told the federal court hearing in New South Wales that the company had profited substantially and should be fined accordingly.



The ACCC challenge to the products, which began in March 2015 last year, followed years of criticism by consumer groups. In 2010 the consumer group Choice gave Nurofen’s pain-specific range a Shonky award, saying “the shonkiest aspect of this type of marketing is that the fast-acting painkillers labelled for specific pain types are more expensive – costing almost twice as much in some stores we surveyed.”



Consumer Group Choice welcomed the decision but said consumer laws needed to be changed to increase potential penalties for misleading conduct.

“These companies make huge profits when peddling these deceptive and misleading claims, but the courts’ hands are tied when it comes to handing down an appropriate penalty,” Choice spokesperson, Nicky Breen, said.

“The law needs to be changed so that courts can and will issue penalties that give companies a real headache.

“Reckitt Benckiser used this dodgy marketing for years. Choice first called the company out for its deceptive claims.”

“While we welcome the court’s decision to impose a higher penalty, it’s pocket change compared to the profit Reckitt Benckiser would have made from conning consumers into paying top dollar for products that weren’t any more effective than cheaper generic pain relief pills.”