Nurofen products in Australia are "misleading"

[RiffRaff]

Take nothing.

 

To use their own slogan, "Nothing works faster than Anadin...."

[Alan Else]

Sainsburys packed the same cold etc product for different cold/flu/snotty nose ailments in different packets, the ingredients were identical on all the packages.

[the_bloke]

If people are gullible enough to buy branded products you can't complain about companies producing whole ranges of branded rubbish.

 

I agree; it's not a pharma related tale, but I once worked in the St. Ivel factory in Chichester in 1996 for a while. We used to pause the yoghurt and desert factory lines to change the pots and lids for different brands, with exactly the same gloop going in the pot. M&S, Asda, Tesco, Safeway and Kwik Save stuff was all identical. The only exclusive product was Cadbury branded as it had to use Cadbury chocolate.

[JFKvsNixon]

I agree; it's not a pharma related tale, but I once worked in the St. Ivel factory in Chichester in 1996 for a while. We used to pause the yoghurt and desert factory lines to change the pots and lids for different brands, with exactly the same gloop going in the pot. M&S, Asda, Tesco, Safeway and Kwik Save stuff was all identical. The only exclusive product was Cadbury branded as it had to use Cadbury chocolate.

 

Just before I went to university I worked in a huge factory like bakery. They said they made majority of bread and confectionary for all of the South West. I was taken on a casual labour to help with the hot cross bun rush.

 

Basically we made them from M&S to the budget super markets like Quick Save. When we completed one order we'd change the packaging and then move on to another order. It was ironic that the M&S had 4 hot cross buns in the packaging, and the Quick Save had 8, and the Quick Save packaging had buy one get one free labelling all over it!!!

 

The forman told me that when they bid for a contract like M&S, M&S will insist that they upgrade several aspects of their manufacturing, but then all their other customers get the benefits of this upgrade.

[geared]

I agree; it's not a pharma related tale, but I once worked in the St. Ivel factory in Chichester in 1996 for a while. We used to pause the yoghurt and desert factory lines to change the pots and lids for different brands, with exactly the same gloop going in the pot. M&S, Asda, Tesco, Safeway and Kwik Save stuff was all identical. The only exclusive product was Cadbury branded as it had to use Cadbury chocolate.

 

It's like that for most things that come out of Factories, Jam and Pasta I'm told are often very similar.

Hartleys is supposed to be the brand to go for, as it's the goo that ends up in most jams on the shelves but is usually the best value.

[sgtkate]

From the BBC:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35091242

 

Article states that if you have higher knowledge in medicine (say nurses, doctors, pharmacists etc) the less likely you are to buy branded medicine. I'm a cheapskate so I always buy the 30p paracetemol but always thought Nurofen must work better, but not enough for me to pay nearly ten times the price.

[Cyclone]

Just check the active ingredients, if they're the same then it will work the same (with the exception of some preparations being more quickly absorbed).

[Isabelle]

I try to avoid painkillers where possible, I only take them once month if I'm feeling wimpy, or if I have severe headache. I just buy the 20p own brand ones, they all do the same thing after all.