The giants Nestle and Ferrero have been implicated in serious cases of food poisoning, the origin of which has yet to be determined. At the same time, group communication is also experiencing difficulties.
Health authorities have announced that they have identified a link between the consumption of pizza produced at the Buitoni (Nestlé’s) factory and several serious cases of infection.
“In crisis management, the worst thing you can do is to remain silent,” is the recipe Geraldine Michel, chair of brands and values at the Sorbonne University, gives to companies caught in the turmoil of a food crisis. “We have to communicate the recall, expand it without hesitation, adopt a new health code and keep a low profile about the rest,” the professor added. “Most importantly, we can’t leave people with no impression,” he insisted. Laurent Wieber, president of crisis communications agency Nitidis.
→ read. E. coli infection: raid on the Buitoni factory and Nestlé headquarters in France
Nestle and Ferrero, who own the Buitoni and Kinder brands respectively, have been implicated in serious cases of food poisoning, partly followed the instructions.
In their first press releases, the bands explicitly emphasized their recall policy. Special numbers intended for consumers were quickly installed. “Despite the fact that we did not understand what was happening, we took action and began a massive recall of our entire range of products,” Jérôme Jaton, industrial director of Nestlé, detailed in a nine-minute video attached to the Buitoni press release. March 30 Posted on .
Particular attention should be paid to the victims. As for the Buitoni pizza, the situation is mentioned in the last few seconds of the video thanks to the following line in the press release: “Our first thoughts are with the affected families. Even more unbearable.”
Florian Silnicki, director of crisis communications agency LaFrenchCom, falls short: “You have to show empathy: since children are victims, emotions can be amplified. accept the idea that the brand is not on your side.”
After the first press release, you should get to the heart of the matter and try to rebuild trust. “The most important thing is evidence,” says Geraldine Michel. The Buitoni group skipped a step, saying in a March 30 video that its Coudry plant “never” sounded the alarm, although the extent of the fault was revealed. There is no trace of the scandal on the site of the parent company Nestlé.
Nearly a month after the first performance check, many problems remain unresolved. “There is a real opacity, the plague of Olivier Andrault with the UFC-Que Choisir association in charge of the food mission. Why do we still not know the ingredients that caused death? Exact amount of contaminated product? Reminder effectiveness? »
Kinder was also involved. The case was solved on April 4, but it took five days for Ferrero to mention an “internal glitch” in a press release.
“What is missing the most is the recognition that there is a mistake,” explains Laurent Wieber. This makes it difficult to respond to customer questions. Denial is never good. “The brand should declare itself a failure, as confirmed by Florian Silnicki. If health authorities or journalists do this, you are on the defensive. »
Post time: Jan-04-2023