DIARY: Rennie finds Gaviscon sponsored indigestion week hard to swallow

Two big brands of indigestion tablets, Rennie and Gaviscon, are

slugging it out in a most ungentlemanly PR battle.

At the end of July, Rennie announced that it was going to sponsor a

national indigestion week, from 11 to 17 October. Charles Barker BSMG

will manage events.

But Rennie is feeling a little upset because in a recent issue of

industry bible Chemist and Drugist magazine, Gaviscon announced it was

going to sponsor a National Heartburn and Indigestion week, during the

week of - you guessed it - 11 to 17 October.

Perhaps Gaviscon’s aggressive promotion, handled by Maureen Cropper

Communications, is a response to the fact that Rennie, which has

traditionally only produced indigestion treatments, launched a product

which also treats heartburn a few months ago.

Explaining the decision, Maureen Cropper director Louise Keale says: ’We

see the combined activities as creating a standout among the 260-plus

national weeks and days.’