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 The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it received
complaints in February that the ad was misleading because it implies
the drug directly targets head muscles and gives faster headache
relief than paracetamol or ibuprofen.
Confirmation of the ASA investigation, which was launched in March,
came a day after an Australian court said Reckitt had misled
consumers by marketing identical products for different types of
pain.
The Australian court found that Nurofen Back Pain, Period Pain,
Migraine Pain and Tension Headache products were identical and that
Reckitt had "engaged in misleading conduct" by labeling them for
different ailments.
Regarding the British investigation, a Reckitt spokeswoman said
there was robust science behind its claims, which had all been
approved by the relevant authorities. She declined to comment
further as the investigation was ongoing.
"This is a complex case and our investigation is ongoing. The
advertiser is providing evidence to substantiate its claims, we're
carefully assessing that and we'll publish our findings in due
course," an ASA spokesman said in statement on Tuesday.
Reckitt said on Monday it had agreed to amend its packaging in
Australia to show specific products were effective against other
types of pain - to prevent a scenario where people might double up
on drugs to treat various pains at the same time.
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The company has three months to sell its inventory with the current
packaging.
(Reporting by Martinne Geller in London and Esha Vaish in Bengaluru;
editing by David Clarke)
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