How a brand defused a life-and-death PR crisis

“Crisis” is a jarring word. It calls to mind messes like the Gulf oil spill or NASA’s Challenger disaster. Some crises are more difficult to define. No objective measure exists for labeling something a “crisis,” but PR professionals have a sense.

When you prepare for a crisis, at the start of your prep you should have something to turn to at hand.

Download our free guide, “13 tips for preparing for a crisis.” Your sense of an impending crisis will tell you when to draw on these reminders.

Take a look at one company that used tip #6 to its advantage:

Blue Bell recalls all products

What happened: Several cases of listeria, a bacterium that can cause fatal illness in people with weak immune systems, were traced to a Blue Bell ice cream factory. When Blue Bell’s investigation showed the problem could have affected all its products, the company issued a complete recall, and halted production. FDA inspectors found sanitation violations and inadequate testing for contamination, according to ClaimsJournal.