Misleading pharmaceuticals packaging

Have to go back to my onion sauce in a minute, but it occurred to me while I was chopping that one could always experiment. For instance, one could buy a packet of the ones for period pains that are supposed to work within ten minutes and one could conduct an experiment: try them on one's period pains and if they don't work within the advertised time, complain to the manufacturer and demand one's money back, as well as telling all one's friends that it's a lie! Of course you tell the manufacturers you were going to do that as well.

Which gransnetter worth her salt would not have done that when she had period pains and wanted fast relief?

People are not automatic victims of advertising. They can choose not to be.

I dived in here, wrote a post, then read Thatbags posts above and cleared it, because I was just repeating what she said, right down to the comments about the literacy of most customers.

Why should manufacturers always be blamed because customers are too lazy to read the information contained on packaging for everything from medecines to foodstuffs and make informed decisions about their purchases?

Could you perhaps give us some examples of misleading packaging, please, eloethan? If there is any, I'm right behind you in deploring it and wanting legislation to outlaw it.

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I googled Nurofen to find out more. I looked at three of their products, just as examples of different packet info.

First photo is for period pain. Apparently it works fast (within ten minutes). That's worth paying extra for imo. It's also soft capsules (that may be what speeds up the action). Perfectly clear active ingredient is ibuprofen 200mg on the front of the pack. Not deceptive at all.

2nd pic is for lemon-flavoured tabs that don't need water. You can get mouth dissolving apsirin that is similar, Disprin Direct, I think it's called. Again, not exactly the same as plain old ibuprofen tablets; the 'carrier' is different and is a useful difference. I don't think it's wrong to charge for that? Disprin Direct is more expensive than plain aspirin too. I sometimes buy it for ease of taking.

3rd on has a decongestant added, so not the same as plain old etc.

I don't think there is anything deceptive about these three. If they are typical then I think it's a non-issue. What are pharmacists for if not to advise people? What are readinf skills for if not to help people decide between product A and product B?

I think the ethical issue is the differences in price, not what it says on the packets, and I think the OP's argument is that what it says on the packets is an attempt to justify price hikes. She may well be right about that, and I agree with her that if that's the case, it's unethical.

But if information on packets is true, or at least not untrue (truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth doesn't really apply here) I personally don't see that as the problem.

According to the OP, the answer to that is yes, jings. However, I mainrptain it is not actually untrue to say that Nurofen/ibuprofen is especially good for back pain, period pain, headache, etc.

Well, I'll qualify that. I don't find it particularly good for anything so I use aspirin instead. Told my doc this recently and he said, Well yes, aspirin is stronger than ibuprofen. I certainly find it more effective.

As I've never read the label on Nurofen, I wish I knew exactly what this is all about.

Do they actually put out a Nurofen for rheumatics, another one for headache, another one for colds. etc etc. without there being any added ingredients in them at all? Are they all pure ibuprofen - apart from from the stuff needed to make them into tablets?

A different 'formulation' of the tablet base is not so important, though as tegan points out, it can matter for some people. For example, Minibags once reacted (got random blisters) after I had given her a decongestant for a stonking head cold. Doc said it was a reaction to something in the syrup, not to the active ingredient, pseudoephidrine hydrochloride.

There are laws about labelling when it is as important as different formulations. Ibuprofen with codeine must be clearly labelled, I am sure, whatever its non-generic/manufacturer's name.

Elrel, I opften have to get up in the night to take some medication. So as not to disturb my husband, and so as not to have to switch on a light, I taught myself to read the braille on the packets. This way it doesn't matter what the packet looks like or whether the print is hard to see.

As well as that, I always put the packets in a certain place in the medicine cabinet, as a blind person would, so that I can 'put my hand on' whichever one in the dark.

You don't have to learn the whole Braille alphabet, just enough to recognise your different medications.

When medicine went generic a few years ago it did cause confusion, especially when tablets have a huge brand name emblazoned on the box rather than what the tablets are. Sometimes a miniscule change in formulation from one brand to another [colouring for example] will have an adverse affect [effect??] on someone, made worse by the fact that no one takes them seriously when they point it out. We always used to say to people that if they were concerned in any way they were to tell us so we could inform the manufacturer. Nurofen used to have different formulations for different things [eg some contained codeine]; not sure if that's still the case. they were taken over by Reckitts a few years ago and that's probably when the problems started.

That is appalling behaviour by the drug companies.

As a GP was saying on the radio people should make themselves far more aware generally about what medicines they are taking for what conditions.
But how do you get people to take responsibilty for their own health. most medicines come with fairly clearly written leaflet.
I am just looking at the leaflet for my timoptol eye drops and it seems quite clearly written to me.

I hope our government will come down on the company here like the proverbial "ton pf bricks."

I can sympathise with the old man. One gets used to certain packaging and, if taking several different meds each day, can be disconcerted or even confused by changes. All my 5 morning tablets are now small and white, it's not always easy to see letters or figures on them if distracted or interrupted while getting them out. I take 30g of one med, two tablets identical in size, of 10g and 20g. Until recently the foil backing was different, one red, the other green, now they're the same except for tiny lettering. For a few days I was taking 40g in error.

I was in a queue in the pharmacy and an old man was complaining because his prescription drug was in a different coloured box and he was convinced that it wouldn't work as well as the one he normally had. The pharmacist finally got him to accept them, but he wasn't happy.

I knew somebody who swore that Nurofen cured her pain and ibuprofen didn't. I worked in a pharmacy and even the pharmacist couldn't convince her that they were the same thing with a £1.50 price different.
This shows the power packaging and advertising has on some people.

It will be inrpteresting to see what, if anything, happens here on this. Do keep us posted, eloethan.

I actually think the nurofen producer has a point regarding the packaging, though I think they overdo it (so what's new in advertising?). I agree about the wrongness of the price differences, except where the tablet/capsule is different because I suppose there might be different production costs for different kinds. Still, I wouldn't expect the retails price to differ all that much between the various modes of 'delivery'.

So long as it's clear on the package active ingredients information what drug one is buying and in what dosage, I still think people should have their wits about them so as not to be so easily taken in by fancy packaging and labelling.