What should businesses do when faced with public health issues?
Four key reactions to public safety scares which all business organisations would do well to bear in mind, are listed below: • Speed of reaction – This is vital if a company is to avoid the ‘nightmare scenario’ of the public making up its own mind as to the risks of buying a company’s products or services in the face of a health scare, or worse still, the media making the public’s mind up for it. • Communication of message – clarity, sincerity, empathy are all important, as are signals that the company’s senior managers are taking the scare seriously. This means that senior executives have to ‘front’ the campaign to reassure the public. • Resourcing the campaign – a company embroiled in a public safety scare must be willing to resource its campaign effectively. This means incurring costs in time, finance and labour. • Saying sorry – experience suggests that the public have an almost limitless capacity to forgive, as long as the apology offered by the company is sincere and consistent.
