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Nestle Cooperates with FDA Recall But Its Website Fails to Communicate

News that Nestle USA today was cooperating with a Food and Drug Administration recall of its Toll House cookie dough wasn't enough. A visit just now to www.nestle.com simply has a headline "Toll House Cookie Dough" halfway down the page..not exactly an urgent matter to the corporation. And, unless you click through, you'd never know there was a recall that might be connected to E.coli. 

This is called burying the bad news. In a crisis, it's best instead to get the bad news out early, anticipate all questions and concerns, and start addressing them early on with consumers and other stakeholders.

Nestle USA's current public statement said it was cooperating in the recall but then said: 

"...as soon as the situation has been clarified, Nestlé USA will put this much-loved product back on the market."

I'm betting that consumers right now aren't really interested about cookies that might be contaminated will be back on the market.  It would have been better if the company explained everything it was doing to keep customers safe and how exactly it is cooperating with the FDA and other officials. 

I've long stressed here that companies must stop hiding the bad news. If people start getting seriously ill or die, the company could be accused of not being honest enough in its communications about the potential dangers of its products.

It reminds me of when another food company, Taco Bell (subsidiary of Yum! Brands) promoted a college football sponsorship on its homepage in late 2006, rather than notify people about the fact thatt 22 people in multiple states had fallen ill because of E.Coli, primarily at three New Jersey restaurants.

The Internet allows companies to communicate effectively in a crisis. However, all too many companies risk their reputations by hiding the bad news and not using their websites, blogs and social networking sites to alert concerned consumers. And that's a good way to lose business over the long term.

Taco Bell Gets D in Crisis Management

As we said earlier in this space, Taco Bell seemed more interested in rushing to reopen its restaurants rather than to put the full safety of the public first. With news tonight that it was the lettuce, not the onions, that caused the E.coli outbreak that sickened some 71 people, it's clear that parent company Yum! and Taco Bell still don't get it.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention never did confirm that the source of the contamination was onions and it seems that Yum and Taco Bell wanted to sweep the investigation under the rug as soon as possible by reopening some restaurants too quickly.

And still, neither company's homepage makes mention of the crisis. A flash graphic today on Taco Bell's website says "Lights Out, Game On".  It's not fun and games to the people who were sick and the company needs to change the tone of its homepage and its corporate message if it truly cares about educating consumers, investors and other critical audiences.

Taco Bell, Yum! Fail By Not Using Website

UPDATE: With E. coli contamination spreading to Long Island -- where some eight Taco Bell restaurants are being investigated for the outbreak -- Taco Bell has now utterly failed a key test of crisis communications by not posting any information on its www.tacobell.com homepage. A visit today to the company website continues to promote its brand with no mention of the issue. Even the "Press Release" page has a news release posted yesterday about a college football sponsorship. Parent company Yum! also has no information on its website at www.yum.com about the crisis.

What Taco Bell and Yum! have failed to understand is that the Web is the most powerful way for an organization in crisis to get its message out beyond the media and directly to the public.

With two people in critical condition and three dozen people sick, the company has a responsibility to communicate about the safety of each restaurant in New Jersey, Long Island and elsewhere. The company finally put out a statement Monday saying "there is no immediate threat" to consumers. What's troubling is that the company seems to be more interested in reopening its restaurants quickly rather than taking time to make sure that every Taco Bell in the country has been sanitized by employees and then inspected by health officials.

In addition, Taco Bell and Yum! have not done enough communicating on the Web or off. A crisis of this magnitude calls for the company's top management to speak before the cameras instead of hiding behind spokespersons and issuing weak statements.

Actions speak louder than words. So far, Yum! is putting out a message that profits come before people's safety by rushing to reopen stores. This head-in-the-sand attitude will surely harm their reputation over the long term.

Taco Bell, Yum in Crisis Mode

Taco Bell and its parent, Yum Brands, did the right thing today by closing its Central New Jersey restaurant where about 15 dozen customers were sickened on Saturday, possibly by E-coli contamination. However, the company missed an opportunity between Saturday night and Sunday night to use its homepages to communicate with the public about the outbreak and developments in its ongoing investigation with health officials.

Crisis events like this often happen when corporate offices are closed and when no one is answering the phones and emails. That's why it's critical for management to keep a list of key personnel handy -- with home and cell telephone numbers and home email addresses -- to better manage a growing crisis at nights, weekends and over holidays.

In this case, a spokesperson did issue a statement expressing the company's concern for the "health and safety" of its employees and customers. That's a good start.

But the company should have implemented a toll-free hotline for consumers to get more information and that information should have also been posted on the company homepage at this stage of the crisis.

Tainted Spinach: Industry Too Slow in Response

News that one person died and some 90 people in 20 states are now sick from E-coli bacteria after eating fresh spinach should be sending all food producers and distributors of the product into crisis mode.

In fact, they SHOULD be in crisis mode if they are not already.

What should they do? Follow the example set by Johnson & Johnson in 1982 when Tylenol was laced with cyanide resulting in the deaths of seven Chicago area residents. That means immediately ceasing production of all bagged spinach, removing all spinach from the store shelves, establishing toll free numbers with updated health information, put up signs in stores warning consumers, set up special website pages with regularly updated information, and promptly investigate the source of the bacteria.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and every state and county health department too, needs to step up to the plate to reassure the public about the safety of the food chain.

A quick visit to the website of well-known brand Birds Eye foods, a producer of frozen bagged spinach,  had absolutely no mention of the spinach crisis as of 1 p.m. EDT on September 15. General Mills, which owns Green Giant, also had nothing on its homepage or the media page of its website at this time. Dole, which does distribute bagged fresh spinach, had an outdated (August 18) message on its website today asserting that rumors about its salads not being safe are false. Note: Dole late tonight (September 15) finally did put something on its website but under the headline "Dole Bagged Spinach"  rather than any kind of warning or consumer alert. It says "Click here for Information on Dole Bagged Spinach." That doesn't exactly do the job of informing the public of a potential serious risk to their health.  The company posted a more detailed statement , not on the all-important homepage, and it failed to attribute the statement to any leader at the company. Customers don't want to read a statement from "Dole". They want to know there is a human being (with real feelings) behind the brand.

Newman's Own, an organic distributor of fresh spinach, did put a warning on its website late today. But  Fresh Express, a subsidiary of Chiquita that also sells fresh spinach, had no references to the crisis. ShopRite was on the right track today by prominently displaying a link to a news release announcing the FDA's consumer alert along with the fact that ShopRite has removed bagged spinach and all loose spinach from all its stores. However, the warning wasn't initially rooted on the homepage as it is viewed as a rotating graphic along with other announcements like food sales. By contrast, Stop and Shop,  Albertsons, Kroger, Waldbaum's, Gristedes and D'Agostino had nothing on their homepages about the tainted spinach despite the announcement that the crisis spread to Ohio, Kentucky, and New York as well. Discounters like Walmart and Costco also had nothing on their sites today. 

We hear much in the business world today about social responsibility and corporate citizenship. But as of 6 p.m. EDT today, only ShopRite and Newman's Own have used their websites intelligently to communicate the seriousness of the crisis and to keep their customers safe.