Deaths caused by humidifier disinfectant In 2001, Reckitt Benckiser acquired the South Korean Oxy brand from
Oriental Chemical Industries. Since 1996, Oxy had been using
polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) in a humidifier steriliser product called Oxy Ssak Ssak (). In 2011, the use of PHMG was dropped when the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) published a report showing a link between the compound and lung damage and deaths. Several other companies in South Korea made humidifier sterilisers with PHMG between 2001 and 2011. A report on
Sina.com in May 2016 said that PHMG was known to have caused 70 deaths and to harmed the lungs of 177 people, with the actual total of deaths and injuries unknown. In May 2016, Korean division chief Ataur "Ata" Safdar apologised to victims and families in a press conference and offered financial compensation to the families of those who died and to those who were injured; it was the first time the company had admitted that its products containing PHMG were potentially harmful and caused fatalities. In the end, it resulted in the exposure of dozens of other humidifier disinfectant products by dozens of other companies with PHMG, chloromethylchloroisothiazolinone (CMIT), methylisothiazolinone (MIT) and oligo(2-(2-ethoxy)-ethoxyethyl)guanidinium-chloride (PGH), and the South Korean government officially recognized 1,814 dead and 7,837 injured victims, however, according to Korea national apparatus, Social Disasters Commission, including unreported cases, estimated 20,366 deaths, 950,000 health damages, and 8,940,000 exposures occurred between 1994 and 2011 due to PHMG only, with Reckitt Benckiser's humidifier disinfectant product, Oxy Ssak Ssak (옥시싹싹) being the humidifier disinfectant product with the largest amount of victims with 221 confirmed deaths and 300 confirmed health damages.
Cillit Bang viral marketing controversy Cillit Bang television advertisements have been presented by "Barry Scott", a brashly enthusiastic character played by Neil Burgess, who claims that Cillit Bang can remove limescale, rust and ground-in dirt. In one advert, he places a copper English
one penny coin in Cillit Bang to demonstrate the product's cleaning ability to remove staining. International versions of the advert use different presenters, known as Martin Grellis in Australia and New Zealand, and Dan Dolan in North America, although some spots feature Neil Burgess as Barry Scott. The North American versions of the advertisement use the appropriate one-cent coin (a
Lincoln cent in the United States, a 1953–1964
one cent coin in Canada). The company claimed that the coin would be clean in 15 seconds: however the
Advertising Standards Agency said the claim was misleading. In 2005 advertising agency
Cohn & Wolfe was contracted by Reckitt to operate a
blog as the fictional character Barry Scott as a
viral marketing platform. In October of that year
blogger Tom Coates wrote an emotional post to his own blog about his long-estranged father. Among the expressions of condolences and sympathy in the post's comment section was one from a user identifying themselves as Barry Scott, with a link back to the Cohn & Wolfe's in-character blog as Barry Scott. Offended by the apparent use of his blog comments on such a personal post as a
spam advertising venue, Coates traced the comment's originating
IP address through addresses owned by
Young & Rubicam and back to Reckitt. Reckitt initially denied responsibility for the message but later wrote Coates an apology acknowledging the message's inappropriateness, and Cohn & Wolfe issued a statement of remorse for their misuse of the "experimental" blog which they then ceased operating. The controversy and its fallout led to further discussions among the blogger community as well as the advertising industry on the ethical issues surrounding blogs being "operated" by fictional characters for the purposes of advertising without being clearly labeled as such, and the extent to which those blogs should be allowed to participate in the greater
blogosphere. The Barry Scott adverts were
parodied by
Peter Serafinowicz on
The Peter Serafinowicz Show. In the parodies, the host "Derek Baum" (played by Serafinowicz) markets a product called Kitchen Gun, which is a
firearm that the host uses to blast away at kitchen surfaces and appliances, cleaning and damaging them at the same time, and Toilet Grenade, a
hand grenade covered in white paint that demolishes the toilet bowl to eliminate
limescale and germs.
Anti-competitive behaviour In 2008, the BBC's
Newsnight accused Reckitt Benckiser of attempting to delay the introduction of a competitive, generic version of one of its most popular products,
Gaviscon, a treatment for
heartburn and
gastroesophageal reflux disease. In his introduction, reporter Martin Shankleman said: The investigation was widely reported in the British press.
The Guardian quoted a leaked memo in which the product's manager explained that the company could use "the rationale of health and safety" to design a switched product to "muddy the waters". The newspaper quoted Reckitt as stating that the leaked memos were "inappropriate and did not reflect Reckitt's eventual actions". It also quoted a statement issued by the company: "...RB is a responsible company and we have therefore instigated an immediate internal investigation and will take action. However, we do not accept much of what has been alleged." It stated that the
Office of Fair Trading was expected to examine whether Reckitt had acted illegally. It also printed verbatim extracts from several of the leaked memos. In response to the
Newsnight report and the reports in the press, Reckitt issued a statement that began: On 15 October 2010, Reckitt was fined £10.2 million by the
Office of Fair Trading after the company admitted anti-competitive behaviour. In 2014, the
Autorité de la concurrence in France found that Reckitt had colluded with 12 other multinational companies (
Colgate-Palmolive,
Henkel,
Unilever,
Procter & Gamble,
Sara Lee,
SC Johnson, Bolton Solitaire, Laboratoires Vendôme,
Gillette,
L'Oréal,
Beiersdorf and Vania) to
fix the prices of popular personal hygiene products; the fine of around €950 million was the largest ever imposed by the agency. In 2015, Reckitt created controversy when it emerged that seemingly different versions of their product
Nurofen marketed to treat specific pains, such as migraine, were all identical to the standard product despite costing twice as much. The product was withdrawn from sale in Australia for misleading consumers. The
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) took the matter to court and in December 2016, Reckitt was fined .
Legal challenges to rodenticide regulations In 2008, the
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a decision to remove second-generation anticoagulant
rodenticides from store shelves, leaving the products available for purchase only by US licensed applicators. The ruling was slated to go into effect in 2011 allowing poison companies time to adjust to the new law. EPA's decision was based on tens of thousands of reports of pet, wildlife and child poisonings that resulted annually from rat poisons in the US alone. In 2011, Reckitt Benckiser makers of
d-CON products initiated a legal challenge to the EPA expected to take several years to resolve. Early in 2014, California State Department of Pesticide Regulation ruled that anticoagulant rat poison sales would be restricted beginning on 1 July 2014. Reckitt filed suit in San Diego County Superior Court in April 2014 to block the decision, but eventually reached an agreement with the EPA to phase out the products in June 2014; production of the banned products stopped on December 31, 2014, with distribution to retailers ceased on March 31, 2015, although retailers will be allowed to keep the banned products in stock until they are all sold out.
Palm oil procurement According to a 2016
Amnesty International report, Reckitt Benckiser is one of several major consumer goods companies that purchase
palm oil from
Wilmar International, the world's largest palm oil refiner. Amnesty's investigation revealed that Wilmar profits from
child labour and
forced labour and exposes workers to toxic banned chemicals.
Opioid marketing In 2019, Reckitt paid a $1.4bn fine for claiming
opioid medication Suboxone Film was "safer ... even though such claims have never been established."
Controversy regarding operations in Russia Reckitt Benckiser has faced criticism for continuing its operations in Russia despite the invasion of Ukraine and widespread international sanctions. In April 2022, the company announced plans to transfer ownership of its Russian business to a third party or local employees but did not complete the process as of 2024. Trading data reveals that Reckitt Benckiser continues to export products to Russia, raising concerns about its commitment to disengaging from the market. While the company has frozen capital investments, advertising, sponsorships, and promotions in Russia, its ongoing presence has drawn scrutiny in light of Russia's continued aggression and violations of international law. ==References==