GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Ribena faces a court case on Tuesday for allegedly misleading advertising after two high school students found its popular blackcurrant drink contained almost no vitamin C.

The students, 14 year old Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo tested the drink in 2004 was surprised when the are no noticeable trace of vitamin C in the drinks. In their advertisement, the company claimed that Ribena has four times more vitamin C than oranges.

“We thought we were doing it wrong, we thought we must have made a mistake,” Devathasan, told New Zealand newspapers of her school experiment.

When a complain was lodged, the drink maker, GSK paid little attention to the claims of the students. However, when the news was broken to the New Zealand’s Commerce Commission, an investigation followed suit.

It was reported that 15 charges related to misleading advertising has been lodged against the company, risking potential fines of up to NZ$3 million.

GSK has a worldwide turnover of more than $61 billion, second only to drug giant Pfizer.

Update: Today (27 March 07) GlaxoSmithKline, the multi-national company that makes Ribena has been fined a total of $NZ217,500 ($A192,900) after it admitted its advertisements misled the public about the drink’s vitamin C content.

Reuter News: No Vitamin C in Ribena
NZHerald: What happened when the girls contacted the company