You're spot on. It is a root product with Echinacea and a few other random items like ginger. However, there are a few helpful boosters in Airborne like Vitamin C. It seems like a brilliant marketing scam actually for a product that, at best, has a placebo-effect. The directions indicate "take at the first sign of a cold." That's really hard to determine so if it works one would think it worked ("wow I used it right on time") but if it doesn't work one can rationalize its lack of efficacy with "I guess I didn't take it soon enough." Many times, supposed cold symptoms aren't really indicators of actual infection so of course Airborne has a chance of "working."

I agree with a few shots of Macallan as a cold remedy. When I was in Scotland, the family I stayed with recommended whisky for when I had the flu. It forced me to sleep which in the end is the best remedy.