Act Swiftly When The Dirt Is Being Dished
Horsemeat scandal – a lesson in crisis management
I was a journalist when the BSE crisis left the UK farming and meat sector in tatters for years afterwards. The crisis was unprecedented, the various government and industry bodies were, to use an appropriate term, accused of making regulation on the hoof and hacks had a field day as the various meat practices were exposed and vilified.
Back then, internet news was in its infancy and the term social media wasn’t even in existence. The journalists on the daily media were fed via regular press briefings and PR stunts, including the ill-advised John Gummer burger-eating photocall that created derision rather than placating the public. The crisis became symbolised by stark images of CJD sufferers and burning animal carcasses.
Fast forward almost two decades and the horsemeat scandal has once again exposed the meat industry’s shadier processes, albeit that this latest crisis is without the public health implications. This time though, the speed at which news travels, the appetite for continual updates to feed into the 24-hour news machine and the fact that search engines will continually regurgitate old headlines, shows just how much has changed when it comes to delivering messages and handling a crisis.
This is where Findus has been caught out – unlike Tesco it didn’t act swiftly and proactively, and by not overtly saying sorry at once, it did little to reassure consumers. Keeping schtum for three days before informing the main shareholders that products had been withdrawn only led to one prominent shareholder publically criticising Findus’s handling of the situation.
Interestingly, it also shows how a major food company disregarded its ‘brand protectors’ having apparently shed its senior communications team in 2011 as part of a cost slashing exercise – a stark message for any business thinking that PR is a dispensable activity.
About the Author
Amanda Brown
Hi there, this is my personal blog on PR-related topics, including advice on how to communicate more effectively to your target audiences.
I've been in PR for more years than I care to mention having started out as a journalist on a weekly farming magazine. I have since handled the PR for a variety of organisations and across numerous sectors including agriculture, footwear, catering, IT, care, construction and property.
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