The Flip Medley

The pair’s story begins in 2004, when the girls were in a Year 10 science class. For a science fair project they tested the Vitamin C content of eight juices.

While the content of most drinks matched what the label said, Ribena, which was claimed to have four times the Vitamin C of oranges, consistently came back short.

“In the beginning we thought we had screwed up but we did it so many times but we came out with consistent results, and that’s when we thought something was out of the ordinary,” Jenny says.

After attempts to contact Ribena resulted in a brush-off, the duo went to Fair Go. As well as filming the story, the organisation told the girls to contact the Commerce Commission, which they did.

“We wrote to them and they replied saying they would open an investigation,” Anna says.

Two years passed and the girls had begun to forget about the inquiry.

“Then we saw it in the news that the company had been charged, and that’s when it all exploded,” Anna says. “That’s when all the court stuff happened and we’ve been getting non-stop phone calls.”

“After all the media calm down I think that’s when it’ll be over for us, we’ve given our numbers to a lot of people today,” Jenny says.

As for the future, Anna plans to study for a law degree next year. Jenny, who featured in the Times last year after she and two classmates made the national final of a science documentary competition is considering studying advertising.

As a result of the girls’ and Commerce Commission investigation, GSK had begun correcting its labels one year ago and published a statement after this week’s court case:

“GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare has accepted 15 representative charges brought by the Commerce Commission relating to a product claim and Vitamin C content information on Ribena.

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