Archive for the 'Household Products' Category

Reckitt Benckiser giving a ticking off by the ASA

Published
by
badchemist
on October 24, 2007
in Badscience and Household Products
. 0 Comments

Reckitt Benckiser, lords of Barry Scott, have been giving a ticking off by the ASA over a Dettol advert. The usual exaggerated claims are too blame.

I want to know why no one ever complains about the other misleading comments in these adverts, namely:

But Dettol Surface Cleanser kills 99.9% of bacteria, including MRSA, E.Coli, salmonella and even the flu virus …

Some of you may now be asking, why is this misleading? It implies that killling MRSA, E. Coli etc. is a difficult thing that maybe other surface cleaners can’t do. The thing is, the vast majority of bacterium and viruses are easily destroyed - soap and hot water will get rid of most, ethanol will get them too, and UV.

Killing these pathogens is not the problem, doing so in an infected patient is. Unfortunately feeding Dettol to a patient with MRSA is unlikely to help them.

Bang! And the dirt is gone.

Published
by
badchemist
on October 6, 2007
in Household Products and Medicine and Health
. 3 Comments

Andrew at Apathy Sketchpad has posted on the topic of Nurofen, its dubious advertising and the incredible bullshit they feature on their website. Go have a read there’s some interesting stuff.

I only have one slight problem with the piece - the sense of surprise that quackery would be pushed by a brand like Nurofen. Nurofen is not made by Big Pharma. It’s owned by Reckitt Benckiser, the same company that introduced the world to Barry Scott and “Limescale is just calcium that sticks”. The company are not Big Pharma, they make general consumer products particularly in the lifestyle and home markets. There business is not at threat from homeopathy and the other bull they have on their website.