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Public relations is all about learning from others. One example is Nestlé, a company that in my opinion had the most and one of the worst crisis situations. Here are some of which I’m familiar with:
- The Palm Oil Controversy – Nestlé was accused of alleged use of palm oil from deforested areas in Indonesia. Environmental group Greenpeace started an attack against the food giant over Facebook and YouTube. Well done! What did Nestlé’s content team do? They tried to control social media conversations by deleting tweets, videos and negative comments. Obviously, the issue was too big to hide.
- The Maggi Noodle Scandal – The label on Maggi noodles claimed there is no MSG (monosodium glutamate) added which after testing by food inspectors showed positive. Not only MSG was found, but also lead. Company’s comment was: “Noodles are safe to eat.”
- The Baby Killer – Nestlé was promoting bottle feeding instead of breastfeeding in poor communities causing infant illness and death. As a result Nestlé boycotts spread from Switzerland and Britain to the US. They’ve been accused of violating ethical marketing codes and manipulating customers with misleading nutritional claims about its baby milk formulas.
And the award for the worst company of the century goes to – Nestlé!
Written by Ariana L. Yassen
Sources:
https://glean.info/pr-crisis-management-lessons-from-the-nestle-maggi-noodle-controversy/
http://www.bu.edu/goglobal/a/presentations/greenpeace_nestle_socialmedia.pdf
https://communicateonline.me/agency/publicis-media-groupm-initiative-pitch-nestle/
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