Maple Leaf Foods and Crisis Management

Eating is one of life’s pleasures — or it’s supposed to be. But increasingly it seems to be riskier than skydiving or practicing street luge in the hills of San Fran.

Earlier this year there was the nation-wide salmonella scare in the United States that sickened hundreds. Tomatoes were labeled the culprits but there was later speculation that it was jalapenos or possibly cilantro.

And now, in Canada, there are six confirmed deaths due to listeriosis from contaminated cured meat originating from a Maple Leaf Foods plant based in Toronto. Five other deaths in Ontario and one all the way across the country in B.C.

Six additional deaths may also be linked to this outbreak.

And approximately 30 other cases of this bacterial infection are suspected so far- and that number is expected to climb as listeriosis has a lengthy period of incubation. It can take just over two months for symptoms to appear, meaning that panic and pondering will also be on the rise during the next few weeks.

Or it would be except for the fact that Maple Leaf Foods has, after these egregious events, acted in a manner that will hopefully quell fears and prevent additional deaths.

How They’ve Handled This

Maple Leaf Foods immediately shut down the plant in question and recalled approximately 20 types of meat involved. As investigators from the Public Health Agency of Canada uncovered more information, the company took precautionary measures and widened its recall to include 200 additional products.

The company also made sure the public has the information it needs by posting a sizeable PDF on its website detailing which products are involved and to be avoided.

The site also updates press releases as received and implores those viewing it to “Check back often to see what we are doing to win back your confidence.”

Additionally, a somber and penitent statement featuring the company’s President and CEO Michael McCain has apparently been running frequently on major Canadian networks during commercial breaks for popular programs as well as on YouTube.

And a full page letter from Michael McCain quickly appeared in the major Canadian newspapers.

And Why Does this Matter?

From a public relations standpoint, this is a textbook case of excellent crisis management. The company acted quickly and effectively.

They took control of the situation and offered what appears to be genuine contrition. (McCain even apologizes in the commercial for the failure of their “culture of food safety”- and actually stating that you’re sorry is something at which most companies would balk. And at which most lawyers would pounce – and they may yet.)

Additionally, on the business side, analysts have praised the way the company has responded to the crisis.

However, ultimately, the company’s swift and thorough response will not be considered enough. Because their actions will be of small comfort to those who have been sickened or who have lost loved ones to this nasty bacterial outbreak.

Pregnant Pause

The situation at Massachusetts’s Gloucester High School – 18 young girls pregnant, with some allegedly having made a pact to achieve that status together – gives one pause.

As a parent, it’s heartbreaking whether they are your children or not.

As a PR professional working for the school- it’s likely ulcer-inducing. (Yesterday morning on CNN a commentator actually used the words that make a practitioner’s heart sink to their knees: “a PR nightmare.”)

Trying to Manage the Crisis

No doubt it’s been a hideous challenge for the mayor, Carolyn Kirk. At her first press conference as mayor yesterday- a genuine trial by fire – she tried to dispel rumours of the pact by dismissing Principal Joseph Sullivan’s previous comment to Time magazine that “They made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together.”

Refuting the story, Mayor Kirk was quoted in The New York Times as stating that Sullivan was “foggy in his memory of how he heard this information….When pressed, his memory failed.”

And Sullivan is apparently not returning media calls at the moment. The Boston Globe noted that he “could not be reached for comment. An administrative assistant in the Principal’s office took a message but said that Sullivan already had a stack of unreturned messages from reporters – and Oprah’s people- piled on his desk.”

As crisis management strategies go, it is not a particularly bad one. Except that it seems as if very few in the media or the public are buying into this version of events as of yet.

Did They Manage to Manage the Crisis?

The Boston Herald noted that high school students, who know the girls in question, “were equally skeptical of the mayor’s denial, with several naming those involved and telling the Herald the alleged pact was common knowledge around school.”

Of course, there really is no way to know what actually happened without talking to these girls- which is unlikely at this point. Now they are being protected. Now it’s a little late.

The Blame Game

What’s really interesting is how many folks are pointing fingers at the media and PR- it’s because of Juno! It’s because of Jaime Lyn Spears’s pregnancy!

Well…not exactly. Admittedly it is possible that the positive spin the star’s “people” put on her unexpected pregnancy and the charming nature of the low-key comedy made some girls more curious about the experience. But you can’t really say it’s all Diablo Cody’s fault, can you?

Will Anyone Ever Really Know What Happened?

Again, without these girls telling their stories in their own voices, it is really hard to know where the truth lies. But if the allegations of a pregnancy pact is true, isn’t it possible that they wanted to build their own sense of connection and community – and went about it in the wrong way? Isn’t it possible that they felt lost in terms of what they wanted to do with their lives so they chose to take on the role of “mother”- without knowing what it really meant or entailed?

There seems to be a kernel of truth in that, particularly when you zero in on a portion of a statement in Time by Amanda Ireland, ar recent graduate of the school who herself became a mother her freshman year.

“`They’re so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally,’ Ireland says.”

Is that what caused this surge in teen pregnancy? And was there actually a pact as alleged?

Ultimately, whether it was misguided peer pressure, misinterpretation of media or just a desperate expression of a desire to be loved probably doesn’t matter. What matters now is what is going to happen to these girls and their children.

And how the school will manage this crisis both in terms of its reputation and its students’s futures?

Two Nations, Two Sports Messes and One BIG Need for Better Crisis Management

And now for something completely different….Sports and public relations.

Canada: HNIC’s theme departs and with it someone’s ability to manage crisis effectively

Up here in the not-so-frozen north, the whole mess is not so much with the NHL or hockey itself but with its mother network having first lost the rights to the Hockey Night in Canada theme and then whomever they asked to handle the ensuing PR having botched things so badly that even American comedians have picked up on the situation and have started making fun of it. (And, oddly enough, hockey isn’t quite so popular in the States, so if they’ve picked up on it there….oops.)

Colbert on HNIC

Stephen Colbert offered hilarious commentary on the whole HNIC situation last week. (Viacom, which appears to have a much less well-developed sense of humour, pulled it off YouTube. So this is a bit cumbersome, because this is copyrighted material and because of the aforementioned lack of a sense of humour, this has to be done in a round about way. You have to go to the Comedy Network’s site by following this link to the episode and fast forward to about 3 minutes and 30 seconds in to find the bit. But it is worth it.)

It’s a bit that simultaneously manages to make fun of both cultures, which is particularly rib tickling for someone who has spent half her life on each side of the Am-Can divide.

And what the fact that Colbert commented on HNIC means in terms of PR

But the fact that this bit exists is a very bad sign for whomever has been trying to handle the PR for this situation. They not only dropped the ball, but it has rolled downhill and gathered snow and now has turned into an avalanche. How did that happen? Were they not warned? What was their strategy for handling this supposed to be?

America: Does NBA stand for Now BSing America?

Talk about a mess. On the other side of the border, the issue isn’t just about music. It’s about corruption and it has the potential to be as big a scandal as the 1919 Black Sox fixing of the World Series if the allegations imparted are proved to be true.

[Please note: my take on this is rudimentary- for a really good examination of the Donaghy/NBA situation, you should go read Ironic Teachings's blog- he has a fabulous handle on this and is always a good read.]

The initial scandal

Tim Donaghy, a second generation basketball referee who officiated games for the NBA for about 13 years, resigned from the league when word came down that the FBI was investigating whether he bet on games that he had been officiating and whether his calls had affected those games’ point-spreads.

But he had a lot more to say.

As noted in the New York Post, Donaghy, who has also admitted to being a compulsive gambler, has claimed that executives in the NBA, seeking to increase playoffs-related revenue, sought to manipulate the games through the referees:

“Top NBA executives rigged playoff series to pack arenas and pump up TV ratings by ordering officials to shamelessly make calls that benefited favored teams, disgraced ex-ref Tim Donaghy charged in bombshell court papers today.”

The NBA’s response

The NBA has handled this by taking a position that can only be called “the best defense is a good offense.” But at least they are actually actively trying to counteract the allegations- not well mind you – but at least they are trying, as explained by ESPN’s website:

” ‘We welcome scrutiny here. This is something that should be scrutinized,’ said Stern, who called Donaghy a ’singing, cooperating witness’ and repeatedly referred to the former referee as a felon as he spoke with reporters for more than eight minutes near the loading dock of the Staples Center as he arrived for Game 3 of the Finals.”

Did it work?

Has this been an effective way to handle things? Apparently not if you read a sampling of the American sports press. The best summation may have been offered by Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun-Times when he stated

“If Stern can’t see what a mess he potentially has on his hands and how no one from inside the NBA should be part of any league influence-peddling investigation, then he has become blind to the real world. As the USA Today editorial summed up: ”The NBA has much more at stake than winning an argument with a felon, which, after all, should not be hard to do.”

No, it has its credibility at stake.”

How could the NBA have handled this better? Is a poor PR strategy better than no seeming PR strategy at all?

And how have the great and glorious pastimes of two nations come to this?