Grand-Pa’s advert headache relieved

TWO top headache remedies have gone head to head in an advertising spat, with Panado implying that Grand-Pa is suitable only for the elderly.

This week, Grand-Pa manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline was largely victorious in an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling after it complained about a Panado radio commercial featuring an elderly man.

A voice-over artist says: “If you want to know which pain tablet to take, don’t ask a granddad. Just ask your doctor . . . Panado — the GP’s choice.”

GlaxoSmithKline complained that the “faltering voice of a confused older man” and the voice-over statement created the impression that Grand-Pa was suitable only for the elderly.

The company said the claim “You cannot rely on your granddad” contradicted its well-known “Trust Grand-Pa” tagline.

It said the commercial was an attack on Grand-Pa in an attempt to “discredit or disparage it”.

But Panado manufacturer Adcock Ingram said its claim to be the “GP’s choice” was backed by research. It argued that its competitor was reading too much into the advert and did not have sole right to use the word “granddad”.

The ASA agreed that the advert “discredits and disparages” GrandPa, but dismissed its complaints that Adcock Ingram claimed Panado was better, that it was the GP’s choice and that the advert contradicted the Grand-Pa tagline.

Adcock Ingram was ordered to immediately withdraw the advert.

The authority found that the commercial “indirectly” equated the Grand-Pa brand with a senile old man.

It held that although GlaxosmithKline did not have the sole right to use “granddad”, “the most likely interpretation” was that the commercial was referring to Grand-Pa.