Two deaths have been linked to plant-based beverages sold under the Danone and Great Value names.
This is every company's nightmare.
No company wants to be responsible for people dying after consuming its products, and yet, that's exactly what's happened here.
But the sad truth is that companies are run by people, and people make mistakes.
Companies have made tragic mistakes before and have been able to recover from them.
Danone and Walmart can recover too.
And I'm confident about this because both companies already have a crisis management template they can use: Maple Leaf Foods Inc.
Maple Leaf Foods had to deal with an almost identical situation in 2008 when listeria bacteria was found in some of its packaged meat products.
In that case, Maple Leaf CEO Michael McCain did everything right.
He admitted the company was at fault.
He offered a sincere apology.
He resolved to find out what went wrong and ensure it never happened again.
He was widely praised for his authenticity, transparency, and willingness to take action despite what it would cost the company. And today, Maple Leaf Foods is doing just fine.
I have yet to see an apology from either Danone or Walmart, which means both companies are already behind from a crisis management perspective.
Perhaps the highly paid lawyers working at these large, global corporations are insisting they wait for all the facts before they say anything, but the company certainly knows enough to release an initial statement: "We messed up, and we're sorry. Our apology won't bring back the people who died, but we are doing everything in our power to figure out what went wrong so that this never happens again."
I don't think these companies are acting fast enough.
Sure, the affected product was recalled.
But that's the bare minimum action required.
And if you look at the language Danone chose to use in its Silk Product Recall Canada – Q&A, they called out that the tainted product was "produced in this third-party manufacturing facility"; that language makes it look like they're trying to avoid taking responsibility by blaming their manufacturing partner, which is the exact opposite of what they should do.
If Danone and Walmart want to regain consumer trust, they need to take a page out of Michael McCain's playbook:
"We screwed up. We're sorry. And we promise this will never happen again."
The public is waiting.
And the longer we have to wait, the more difficult it will be to earn back our trust.
P.S. A reporter from The Canadian Press contacted me and asked for my thoughts on this recall situation; the resulting article was syndicated across various news outlets, including a piece published in The Globe and Mail. This post is based on the comments I provided to the reporter.
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