BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

After weeks, even months, of mishandling its recall of a faulty gas-pedal in millions of its cars, Toyota appears to be getting its communications act in gear. The automaker’s senior executives are now following the basic principles of crisis communications. They’re apologizing to customers, offering details on the cause of the pedal’s malfunction, providing dealers with needed replacement parts and vowing to do everything possible to prevent another such incident from happening again. In short, they ... READ MORE

Toyota’s decision to halt sales and production of eight of its 10 best-selling models in North America is a costly course of action. But it’s a step the automaker – and the U.S. Department of Transportation – felt was necessary to reassure consumers. The temporary shutdown sent Toyota shares tumbling nine percent on the New York Stock Exchange and erased $13 billion in market capitalization. With rental car companies pulling Toyotas from their fleets, competitors acting ... READ MORE

News reports are indicating that some Chinese manufacturers prohibited from producing children’s toys with unhealthy levels of lead have turned to an even more dangerous heavy metal as the base for the toys and costume jewelry they export. Cadmium, a cheap, easy to use, naturally-occurring metal that is known to hinder proper brain development in children, is now showing up in a variety of products around the country. Predictably, the news is creating uproar among government ... READ MORE

We’ve seen this movie before. First it was pet food tainted with melamine; then, it was lead paint in toys; then defective tires; then melamine emerged for a repeat performance – in both toothpaste and baby formula. Now, the latest import scare from China is drywall built into more than 100,000 homes nationwide between 2004 and 2007. As we enter 2010, this sequel is rapidly expanding into what experts predict will be a $15 billion to ... READ MORE

As news broke late last night and early this morning that Stork Craft Manufacturing is recalling 2.1 million cribs due to a suffocation risk that has claimed four lives and injured scores of children, consumer product companies got a good look at what’s to come as regulatory scrutiny of product safety continues to escalate. Government agencies like the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), are working with bigger budgets, enhanced regulatory mechanisms, and a mandate from Congress ... READ MORE

While enforcement of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) isn’t expected to begin in earnest until early 2010, smart companies are readying themselves now for a new era of product safety regulation. Soon, the compliance hurdles will be taller, the penalties for failing to clear them will be harsher, and the brand liabilities that accompany enforcement actions will be greater. This month’s edition of Levick’s High Stakes™ newsletter provides the insight and intelligence necessary to ... READ MORE

Nokia, the world’s top producer of mobile phones, has so far responded masterfully since discovering that its AC-3U, AC-3E, and AC-4U chargers could potentially pose a risk of electric shock. Though no injuries have been reported to date, the company voluntarily initiated one of the largest technology recalls in recent memory and announced that it will replace the more than 14 million defective chargers at no expense to consumers. In so doing, Nokia has taken ... READ MORE

As countless companies scramble to comply with the tough new standards implemented under the highly publicized and much scrutinized Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), it’s easy to overlook similar regulatory initiatives under consideration beyond U.S. borders. But as David Schmeltzer of Stericycle’s ExpertRECALL team reminded us in a blog post published yesterday, the CPSIA is but only one piece of the global compliance puzzle for consumer product companies that do business overseas. For instance, the European Union ... READ MORE

Last week, The New York Times reported the tragic story of Stephanie Smith, a 22 year-old dance instructor who was paralyzed after eating a hamburger tainted with an acutely virulent strain of E. coli. Sadly, Ms. Smith’s story isn’t uncommon. Tens of thousands of people fall ill from eating food contaminated with E. coli every year. According to The Times, hamburger is the “biggest culprit.” What is perhaps most shocking about The Times story, however, is the ... READ MORE

Companies recalling defective products this fall are under scrutiny from federal regulators implementing the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which imposes fines of up to $15 million on manufacturers and retailers who fail to follow the new law's strict procedures. Already, a coalition of small businesses has organized and is speaking out about the costs of the new law in letters to Congress and in publications like The Wall Street Journal. But despite those protests, ... READ MORE