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.’