Handling Public Relations Crises

There are many kinds of potential PR crises. For businesses, governments and organizations, they can be broken down into four basic categories:

  1. Natural disasters
  2. Technical problems
  3. Human error
  4. Executive wrongdoing/legal problems

A good crisis management plan requires honest self-assessment from an organization. Where are the gaps potential problems could sneak through? Who are the executives that have a habit of saying the wrong thing to the wrong people? What are the business practices that could be considered unethical or even illegal? What are the essential services that would be knocked offline by a natural disaster?

Sometimes it's necessary to bring in an outside PR consultant to analyze an organization for potential crises. These people would have an easier time identifying questionable businesses practices without being labeled as a whistle-blower. They also know how to redirect media attention to diffuse a potential disaster or at least lessen the damage.

newscaster
Photo courtesy iStockPhoto
Crisis management plans need to designate a spokesman.

It's also essential that an organization have an official spokesman (and back-up spokesmen) to be the voice and face of the organization in times of crisis. This can be the CEO, an organization's president or a PR staff member who specializes in crisis communications. This person also should be a skilled apologizer. A heartfelt public apology can go a long way to healing a bruised reputation, but a stiff, legalese-filled "statement" might just make things worse.

Now let's look at a few of the different areas and industries in which PR professionals work.

Crisis Management: The Tylenol Scare

One of the most famous cases of effective crisis management came in the wake of the 1982 and 1986 Tylenol tampering scares. In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting Tylenol laced with cyanide. Even though the deaths were a result of local tampering, Johnson & Johnson engaged in a nationwide warning campaign and ordered the removal of all Tylenol capsules from store shelves at a cost of $100 million dollars.

When another woman died from poisoned Tylenol capsules in 1986, Johnson & Johnson recalled all capsules and ended their production. Johnson & Johnson then entered a very public campaign to sell the very first triple-seal, "tamper-proof" pill bottles. They also switched to "caplets," which are harder to tamper with than capsules. The company enlisted more than 2,000 sales people to explain the new safety standard to physicians.

Johnson & Johnson's commitment to consumers helped them win back public trust. Tylenol still captures more than 30 percent of the market share.