Responsible Marketing?

Responsible Marketing?

Airborne’s Lofty Advertising

Read the following page and then go to the discussion section of your course to discuss the issue.

Issue: Can drug companies get away with false advertising?

Recently, the makers of the herbal supplement Airborne agreed to pay a $23.3 million class-action lawsuit over claims of false advertising. The company first claimed that their product could ward off colds. Airborne later backed off, and changed its campaign to claim the product helped "boost your immune system". In fact, Airborne had no evidence to support either claim. Although Airborne has agreed to refund the purchase price to consumers, they will not admit to false advertising.

Even though the class-action lawsuit was successful, Airborne is still available over the counter to anyone who wants to buy it. Ten years of advertising, although promoting false claims, still reside in the minds of many uninformed consumers who want to stay healthy this cold and flu season. In essence, Airborne has settled its lawsuit involving the false claims, but the public opinion on the product is still up in the air.

Should Airborne be forced to produce corrective advertising? If Airborne cannot prove to their customers that its product is beneficial, should it even be allowed on the shelves? Could the tests that show Airborne to be ineffective be wrong?

Source: "Airborne settles suit over false claims," NPR, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87937907, 1/6/2008, accessed March 26, 2008; "Cold Remedy Airborne Settles Lawsuit," WebMD, http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20080304/cold-remedy-airborne-settles-lawsuit, 3/4/2008, Accessed March 28, 2008; "Airborne Settles Lawsuit," Inc.com, http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2008/03/airborne.html, 3/7/2008, Accessed March 28, 2008.