Author: Jonathan & Erik Bernstein

USDA and meat industry ignoring massive warning signs

A pilot program meant to more rapidly identify contamination in the plants which process the meat we eat on a daily basis has been an utter failure, yet still may be implemented as the USDA standard. The Washington Post’s Kimberly Kindy explains:

The program allows meat producers to increase the speed of processing lines by as much as 20 percent and cuts the number of USDA safety inspectors at each plant in half, replacing them with private inspectors employed by meat companies. The approach has been used for more than a decade by five American hog plants under a pilot program.

But three of these plants were among the 10 worst offenders in the country for health and safety violations, with serious lapses that included failing to remove fecal matter from meat, according to a report this spring by the USDA inspector general. The plant with the worst record by far was one of the five in the pilot program.

Worried yet? How about this fact – the USDA has allowed other countries to use a similar process in plants exporting red meat to the U.S. for at least the past two years, if not more.

Now, part of the reason pilot programs are run is to test, and that means it’s not uncommon for there to be failures. What’s really frightening about this case from a crisis management standpoint is that, despite the negative findings from the pilot program, the USDA seems determined to move forward without stopping up the holes in the process.

Of course, all it takes is one read through this quote, from the same Washington Post article, to see how the USDA feels about crisis prevention:

In interviews, six USDA inspectors working in the pilot plants raised health concerns. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they believed their jobs would be in jeopardy otherwise.

Several said company and government workers are yelled at, threatened and shunned if they try to slow down or stop the accelerated processing lines or complain too aggressively about inadequate safety checks. They also warned that the reduction in the ranks of government inspectors in the plants has compromised the safety of the meat.

“We are no longer in charge of safety,” said an inspector with more than 15 years of experience. “That’s what the public needs to know.”

Mindless backing of a failed policy, greed pushing operations to unsafe speeds, and a culture that punishes those who dare to speak out about the dangers involved…sounds like a recipe for disaster.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

How will the organization handle the revelation of Scout-on-Scout abuse records?

The Boy Scouts of America is surely ramping up crisis management efforts as it faces what could be another major blow to its reputation, with a Florida judge ordering the first known release of documentation regarding Scout-on-Scout abuse. The Sarasota Herald Tribune’s Elizabeth Johnson reports:

A local judge has ordered Boy Scouts of America to produce records documenting Scout-on-Scout sexual abuse from the last decade.

Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judge Peter Dubensky’s order, filed in June, is the first known of its kind requiring release of Scout-on-Scout abuse documents, says Sarasota attorney Damian Mallard.

The decision came as part of three ongoing lawsuits filed in Sarasota County on behalf of three separate victims who claim they were sexually abused by fellow Scouts on overnight camping trips.

The suits allege the organization was negligent in not sharing information regarding Scout-on-Scout abuse prevention, reporting, or really, from how it reads, any policy on the subject at all, despite being aware enough to keep records of incidents.

At this point the Boy Scouts have already been in all kinds of hot water related to discrimination and past sex abuse coverups, so it’s a bit late for them to “do it right,” per se. Their only choice here is really to minimize damage, and it shows in the statement issued by the organization’s director of PR:

“The abuse of anyone, especially a child, is intolerable and our thoughts and prayers go out to those who may be a victim of this type of reprehensible behavior. While we can’t comment on the lawsuit, we extend our deepest sympathies to those involved. The safety of our youth members is of paramount importance. Recognizing that youth protection requires sustained vigilance, the BSA was on the forefront of developing youth protection policies and continues to develop and enhance efforts to protect youth through clear policies, as well as training and education programs for scouts, parents, and adult volunteers. The BSA has continuously enhanced its multi-tiered policies and procedures, which include background checks, comprehensive training programs, and safety policies, like requiring all members to report even suspicions of abuse directly to local law enforcement.”

As the Boy Scouts have discovered, it’s tough to get out from under years of bad behavior. In fact, we can tell you from experience that, without fail, it costs far more in both time and money to recover from crises than it ever would have to prevent them in the first place. Of course, you can keep fooling yourself with that, “it can’t happen to us” attitude…until it does.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

THINK before you communicate!

[Editor’s note: Thank you to reader Kim May for bringing this case to our attention! If you see a topic you think would make for a good blog post, send it on over to erik@bernsteincrisismanagement.com]

Would a picture of a dead dog with a concerned-looking man performing CPR make you want to buy a running shoe? Seems like a pretty obvious no, yet somehow Pearl Izumi execs gave the go-ahead to run an ad depicting just that in Canadian Running magazine. Have a look at this ad:

Crisis Management 101 dictates that an organization, before doing any type of communication, considers how it may be received by stakeholders. It’s no secret that animal lovers can be fiercely protective, many people still carry wounds from lost pets, and animal rights groups do not hesitate to make a scene over even perceived cruelty to our furry friends, meaning this was one VERY predictable crisis.

While publishing the initial ad was an undeniably foolish move, Pearl Izumi went all in once it recognized the need for crisis management. An sincere apology was posted to its Facebook wall, and the company shared a couple videos from, and donated a cool $10,000 to, the Humane Society.

The steps Pearl Izumi has taken should help neutralize the reputation damage it was taking, and it’s certainly nice for the Humane Society to get a hefty donation, but it has to hurt a bit to think that, if their advertising folks had spoken with their PR people about potential downsides, the situation could have been avoided altogether.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Over 50% of respondents in recent poll still not using social media for crisis management

Living and breathing crisis management as we do, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that most organizations simply are not up to date or proficient when it comes to the tools and tactics they’re relying on to carry them out of an ugly situation.

This summer, PwC US surveyed businesses to determine how they are planning and preparing for crisis management, and of course social media was a hot topic. Here’s a quote:

According to PwC’s survey, more than half of the respondents – 57 percent – do not officially use social media as a crisis management resource. For companies that have begun integrating social media into their crisis management efforts – Facebook and Twitter cited the most often – not all are seeing improvement in their capabilities. Thirty-eight percent of survey respondents are modestly leveraging it as a tool, but not necessarily seeing improvements in their capabilities, whereas eight percent of respondents believe that social media has become an enabler for their organization to proactively identify and respond to crisis events.

We’d like to address a couple of points here, starting with the majority of organizations that still do not use social media as a crisis management resource. To be frank, if you’re not at least monitoring for mentions of your name and associated keywords online, you must really want trouble. There are several entirely free and automated tools that can do this for you. Not using them is the social media equivalent of removing the batteries from all of your smoke detectors.

That point leads us right into the companies that are “modestly leveraging” social media as a crisis management tool, but not seeing improvements. What this response is indicative of, more than anything, is a lack of understanding as to A) how to set up social media for crisis management and B) how to use the information that’s being pulled in.

Like any new tool, social media requires planning, training, practice and preparation in order to make use of it to your full advantage. Put the time in and you’ll reap the benefits; half-ass things and you could easily join the ranks of respondents saying they don’t see any difference.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Business as usual in one country can create a dangerous backlash in another

The U.S. headquarters of Dunkin’ Donuts has apologized for a Thai campaign that depicted a woman in blackface makeup after it raised a ruckus here in the US. While a campaign like this seems to be an obvious no-no, the Thai Dunkin Donuts operates independently from its parent company, and racial stereotypes in advertising are no rarity in Thailand.

Check out this quote, from a Miami Herald report on the Dunkin’ situation:

The campaign hasn’t ruffled many in Thailand, where it’s common for advertisements to inexplicably use racial stereotypes. A Thai brand of household mops and dustpans called “Black Man” uses a logo with a smiling black man in a tuxedo and bow tie. One Thai skin whitening cream runs TV commercials that say white-skinned people have better job prospects than those with dark skin. An herbal Thai toothpaste says its dark-colored product “is black, but it’s good.”

Hours before the apology was issued by Dunkin’ Donuts headquarters, the company’s chief executive in Thailand dismissed the criticism as “paranoid American thinking.”

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” the CEO Nadim Salhani said in a telephone interview. “We’re not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don’t get it. What’s the big fuss? What if the product was white and I painted someone white, would that be racist?”

What this is, more than anything, is a culture clash, created by what appears to be a lack of forward thinking on Dunkin’ Donuts’ part. Thing is, considering how our borders have been eradicated by the Internet, organizations that operate in multiple regions and span different cultures need to have guidelines set as a sort of preventative crisis management. Sure, Dunkin sales may be up in Thailand, but the actions that branch of the organization takes can, as we see here, create negative situations for the brand as a whole, and especially those in regions that don’t hold the same values or beliefs.

Fact is, your average consumer is not going to research and see that Dunkin Thailand is pretty much its own company and takes no orders from Dunkin U.S., what they see is that Dunkin Donuts made a racist ad, and maybe they’ll talk with their wallets by heading over to Starbucks for their coffee tomorrow instead. Whether it’s, “no racial tones in any advertising,” “our employees will wear region-appropriate uniforms,” or any number of other topics where cultures quite clearly differ, when you enter a new market, or allow your name to be used in said market, taking control any factors that could reflect badly on the organization as a whole is a vital part of the crisis management process.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Good customer service can prevent an incredible number of crises

Having trouble getting some much-needed assistance with a product or service is a struggle familiar to just about everyone. Automated phone systems seem designed to trap callers in an infinite loop, and in-store staff are often as clueless as your average shopper when it comes to details or policy. Thankfully, social media rose as a shining beacon of hope for those desperately seeking customer service! Suddenly, one person, when well versed in communication and company practices, is able to directly answer questions and concerns from a wide variety of stakeholders at once, all without anyone spending a single second sitting on hold listening to coma-inducing Muzak. Even better, you can make sure that the most pleasant of your exchanges are very much public, a living banner advertisement for how awesome your organization really is.

So problem solved! I mean, everybody is making use of Twitter and Facebook to provide great customer service now that it’s so easy, right? Well…no. In fact, we would bet that the organizations a good number of you work for, or even own, aren’t doing any type of social media customer service at all. The idea is certainly growing in popularity, but there’s some sort of disconnect between the idea of heading trouble off at the pass and the actual implementation of that concept that stops many from ever moving forward.

Prevention is the best form of crisis management

One of our favorite sayings at Bernstein Crisis Management is, “prevention is the best form of crisis management.” Countless complaints go unanswered every day, complaints that then wind up permanently posted to sites like Yelp, fed to hungry consumer reports investigators, or simply passed among friends and colleagues as a warning. A bit of automated social media monitoring and some quick customer service could resolve an incredible number of individual problems, before they expand to taint the impressions of others. At the same time, constant monitoring assures that you will be aware of any rise in negative sentiment about your brand, and be in position to research what is driving said sentiment, invaluable information when you’re doing preventative crisis management.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Deleting posts once they’ve grabbed the public’s attention is a cardinal sin of modern crisis management

Anyone experienced with social media crisis management can tell you, deleting a post after it’s become the center of public controversy is a major faux paus. Of course, that doesn’t stop an incredible number of well-known figures and organizations from doing just that.

The backlash is even worse when public perception is that the person should have known better, as was the case when Dr. Phil sent out tweet asking, “If a girl is drunk, is it okay to have sex with her?” Here’s more on the story, from a Washington Post article by Monica Hesse:

On Tuesday, Dr. Phil, drawling psychologist to the masses, posted a tweet that some interpreted as, at best, tone-deaf and, at worst, a tacit encouragement for date rape. “If a girl is drunk, is it okay to have sex with her?” someone from his account tweeted at 5:49 p.m. “Reply yes or no to @drphil #teensaccused.”

“If Dr. Phil is drunk, is it okay for him to tweet?” responded one follower. Another wondered, “If a person is a mysognyist [sic], is it okay to just refer to him as ‘Dr. Phil’ from now on?” Within a few hours, Oprah Winfrey’s former acolyte became thoroughly detested online. Then, he compounded the situation by committing what has become an unpardonable sin in the public venues through which we conduct discourse: He deleted the tweet.

On his timeline, the comment no longer appears, but other Twitter users quickly made sure it wasn’t gone.

“Hey, @DrPhil, if someone deletes his tweet, is it okay to post a screenshot of it?” queried a user who attached a cached image. Others were more direct: “@DrPhil is a bloody coward and has since deleted the tweet.”

The unspoken rule in social media is that if you say something dumb, you have to live with it. Apologizing can work wonders in terms of helping stakeholders accept, and forget, your mistakes, but, as Dr. Phil discovered, trying to cover things up will only serve to draw out hordes of folks who are more than happy to ensure that everybody knows exactly what you wanted to hide.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

U.S. CPSC putting social media and e-comms to work to better protect the public

Just yesterday we ran a post applauding the crisis management efforts put forth by FEMA’s Ready.org, and now we have another example of excellent crisis communications to share, this time from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. These are the guys responsible for many major product recalls, so they definitely have some important information to share, and they’re taking full advantage of electronic communications and social media to do it.

Check out the email we received as members of the CPSC.gov recall information list:

When we first launched CPSC recall e-mails, many other electronic forms of communications didn’t exist.
Now that so many of you receive information in multiple ways, we want to make sure you know all the ways you can receive recall information from CPSC.

1. Twitter @OnSafety: We post nearly all recalls and all news releases on our Twitter feed. You’ll also receive important safety messages, tips and other information. Url: https://twitter.com/onsafety

2. Flickr: Photos are a priority for us, as they help you identify if you own a recalled product. You can find the photos of many recalled products on our Flickr page. Url: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscpsc

3. Google+: CPSC recently launched a page on Google+. We are still experimenting with how many recalls we post on this page and are open your thoughts on what you want to see here. For now, we’re posting Recall Roundups and some of our larger recalls on Google+. Url: http://bit.ly/14ZhXNL

In addition to these social media platforms CPSC posts all recalls on its website at www.cpsc.gov/recalls. Recalls and Consumer Safety Reports are available on www.SaferProducts.gov. We encourage you to search SaferProducts.gov for products you own or are thinking of buying to see what others have told us about those products.

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in
receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to a
product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please
tell us about your experience with the product on SaferProducts.gov.

Media Contact
Please use the phone numbers below for all media requests.
Phone: (301) 504-7908
Spanish: (301) 504-7800

CPSC Consumer Information Hotline
Contact us at this toll-free number if you have questions about a recall:
800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054)
Times: 8 a.m. ? 5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytime
Call to get product safety and other agency information and to report unsafe products.

Impressed yet? We can tell you from experience, the vast majority of organizations out there are barely communicating at all, much less doing it via three of the most popular social media platforms in addition to phone and email. The best part? The CPSC has realized that making communication a two-way street is crucial to crisis management, and has made efforts to not only be able to easily share information, but receive it as well. Heck, they even make it simple for members of the media, who will be far less likely to report based on hearsay or rumors if they can easily get facts straight from the horse’s mouth.

Kudos, CPSC, well done!

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Innocent on a technicality, but the court of public opinion has already judged Deen guilty

In an interesting development, a judge has denied the claims of racial discrimination brought against Paula Deen by ex-employee Lisa Jackson. That’s right, the charge that brought Paula Deen’s TV empire crashing down in a matter of days has been dismissed altogether. Here’s some more info, from a NY Times article by Alan Blinder:

A federal judge on Monday dismissed claims of racial discrimination in a lawsuit against Paula Deen, the celebrity chef who was the target of criticism this summer after she acknowledged using a racial epithet.

Lisa Jackson, who managed one of Ms. Deen’s restaurants in Savannah, Ga., had alleged that widespread discrimination against black workers created a challenging work environment for her.

But Judge William T. Moore Jr. ruled that Ms. Jackson, who is white, was unprotected by federal law and no more than “an accidental victim of the alleged racial discrimination.”

As we all saw in Deen’s case, if your laundry is dirty enough, simply having it aired in public is enough to ruin your reputation. In fact, in many crisis management scenarios we see, the real damage is done long before the case ever hits a court of law. It’s natural to want to bury a past that you know looks bad, but the reality is that you’re best off admitting your mistakes and confronting them head on before the public, or a story-hungry media, digs it up for you and takes you to task.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Apple is in trouble as it faces court cases and political scrutiny without a cushion of goodwill

Apple is infamous for its approach, or, perhaps more accurately, lack of approach, when it comes to creating goodwill. While this approach stood as an anomaly in the PR world for some time, the company is now facing negative repercussions in Washington and in court as a result of some less-than-ethical decisions and its standoffish attitude.

Interviewed by Politico’s Steve Friess, BCM president Jonathan Bernstein had this to say:

Corporate reputation consultant Jonathan Bernstein said it hurts Apple to have “the perception of being a go-it-alone, arrogant corporation.”

“They’re going to pay a price in decisions made against them, whether it’s by litigators or prosecutors or the consumer,” he said.

In other words, when you’re David refusing Goliath, you can sometimes get away with it because, essentially, the public likes a little guy to stick it to “the man.” When you’re the Goliath in your industry, though, you get to toe the line, and a refusal to do so is seen by both public and regulators as, to borrow Jonathan’s wording, arrogant. When you’re arrogant, you get no sympathy, and when you get no sympathy in the court of law, the court of public opinion, or D.C., it’s hard to come out ahead.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]