Dear Class,
Please read this article and comment on the statement issued by the National Restaurant Association (NRA) in reaction to this PR dilemma. Given what we have discussed about crisis PR and positioning strategies, is this statement effective? Why or why not?
Some of the PR consultant's comments about the use of social media during a crisis are very timely, considering tonight's discussion on the role of social media in a PR executive's life.
Applebee's, Olive Garden face PR problem after serving alcohol to kids - USATODAY.com http://usat.ly/ePYNZ9 via @USATODAY
From a quick scan in the headlines, it appears that Olive Garden's current PR mess re: alcohol in sippy cups is exacerbated by some employees using Twitter to complain about the validity of their frequently advertised cooking school.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20110414/bs_atlantic/neverendingdebateoverolivegardenstuscancookingschool36693
Can't wait to talk about this stuff!
See you tonight,
Professor Berry
The statement that the chains should post their new policies to their Web sites, Twitter and Facebook accounts is important advice. Customers and the public will want information immediately and will go to these sites, and the chains will benefit from being the messengers, rather than waiting for the media to frame the story.
ReplyDeleteWhat blows my mind is how does alcohol get into kids drinks anyway? I think that NRA statement is appropriate. The first half addresses the fear that parents/customers of Applees and Olive Garden might be facing when they think about going to these places to eat. The statement does give a brief statistic that these situation is rare. In the second part of the statement where they claim these two incidents are two too many, shows that they see it as a serious concern and as something they don't have to have more occurrence of.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ashley. I think they had to recognize that what happened was very wrong, but when you serve 150 million meals every day, an accident is going to happen at some point. What does everyone thing about allowing people to comment on social media outlets? This could be a dangerous approach, as such a hot topic could further inflame the issue.
ReplyDeleteAlso, anyone follow the J. Crew pink nail polish PR crisis?! J. Crew refused to respond, citing that it was a "non-issue," which I think was appropriate. Would anyone have responded differently?
http://fxn.ws/h8IRKN
In my opinion, I feel that four of the five new PR strategies given could help each of the chain restaurants and their current situation. The "Rethink Policies" part makes me feel that the PR people had no idea what occurred. In this section it states, "Alcoholic drinks should be served in different glasses from non-alcoholic". Last I checked a sippy cup kind of sticks out from a normal glass. Furthermore, typically alcoholic beverages are served in different glasses. If my memory serves me right, some have logos on them also.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.easyir.com/easyir/customrel.do?easyirid=CCC105A779BBE8DA&version=live&prid=743290&releasejsp=custom_100
ReplyDeleteThis isn't part of the restaurants PR dilemmas but I think this is something else that I want to hear people's opinions on... so many people are thinking it is a publicity stunt... what do you think?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20041036-10391698.html
Ellen Degeneres created this fake Olive Garden PSA for her show ...
ReplyDeletehttp://ellen.warnerbros.com/2011/04/olive_garden_stops_serving_the_underage_0419.php