IMC Hawks Blog

Category: Crisis Communication

  • Syringe? Wooden Screw? Pepsi?

    PepsiCo has always been a leader in the beverage industry and in 1993, proved this to be true with how they handled their almost-crisis. Earl and Mary Triplett of Tacoma, Washington made the Seattle news when they reportedly found a syringe in a can of Diet Pepsi. Once news of this disturbing incident hit, reports from all over the United States poured in. Within one week, people from 23 states came forward claiming that objects such as a bullet, broken sewing needle, wooden screw and cracked vial were found in their Diet Pepsi cans.

    With such serious reports, you would think PepsiCo immediately recalled their product. However, PepsiCo didn’t believe in the reports. After all, with manufacturing facilities in many different locations the likelihood of such a crisis on a national level is slim to none. Instead of throwing in the towel and losing millions of dollars, PepsiCo decided to work with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to find the root cause of the crisis. In deciding that PepsiCo wasn’t going to recall, they knew they had to explain to the public that this decision is the right choice. How do you communicate this? By using the first ever video news release (VNR).

     In having 4 VNRs, PepsiCo was able to reach 265 million viewers. These VNRs allowed the public to hear and see the facts; that the whole scare was a cruel scam. With exclusive B-roll of Pepsi’s bottling process and surveillance camera footage from Colorado of a suspect tampering with a Pepsi can, PepsiCo was able to keep their brand name clean. At the end of all this madness, the crisis resulted in 20 arrests, each facing five years imprisonment and $250,000 in fines for their false claims.

    On June 21, “Pepsi is pleased to announce…nothing” became the headline of PepsiCo’s full page advertisement, placed in 12 national newspapers and hundreds of publications. PepsiCo had already planned on a summer promotion and by using their recent crisis; the company took advantage of their media coverage and tweaked their advertisement accordingly.

    What is most important to take away from this crisis was PepsiCo’s ability to invite the media in, letting them know the facts allowed for the truth to come forward and stifled speculation. Media can be a powerful tool, as we have seen through PepsiCo’s crisis scare.

    Meghan French and Gracie Anderson

  • Pain Relief Recall

    Last Monday, October 18, Johnson & Johnson announced their sixth recall of the year for Tylenol products.  This recall was due to a musty odor found in Tylenol 8-Hour packaging.  Historically, Tylenol has a reputation consisting of recall after recall ranging from unpleasant odors to fatal issues.  This being said, Tylenol is still a top brand and has remained at the top despite these crisis situations.

    How are they able to maintain such a successful image and business if their name is continually in the news for negative reasons?  Tylenol does a phenomenal job of informing their publics through immediate press releases and publicity about current issues as well as issuing recalls in order to protect their consumers.  For example, the company’s website quickly updated information with numbers to call to gain additional information, instructions on how to go about obtaining a refund, and specific details of the reasons for the recall and reasons for the odor.  This use of corporate communication is what solidifies their customers’ trust and loyalty.

    Although Tylenol has experienced a more than usual amount of crisis situations where they could have potentially lost customers, their quick actions through their strong corporate communication have continued to make them a stable and reliable company.

    -Haley Williams