Public Relations (PR) Crisis Management by Taco Bell

It is important to understand that when a PR crisis happens for any business, then giving response to such crisis is not just giving a clarification or apologetic press release, rather it asks for more than that so that brand’s reputation can be saved. If the PR response is not good enough, then a crisis can really ruin the company. Various companies have faced PR crisis management events, and then they came back strong with a PR crisis management campaigns to deal with the issues. One of the good examples in this regard is about Taco Bell. A lawsuit was filed against the company that content of their meat was not approved and it did not contained 100% amount of beef, rather the beef in their meat is 35% only. It was claimed in the lawsuit that Taco Bell’s advertising has been lying to its customers and it does not have any pure seasoned beef in their meat being used in their products. The issue was soon highlighted by the media and came under the spotlight. Once the news got out, it was a concern for Taco Bell’s consumers and they started reacting negatively to this controversy (Breinig, 2014)

Now, it was evident that company’s brand reputation was in crisis, and it was time for them to get back with a PR crisis management plan so that they can keep their good reputation alive amongst consumers. The company was very much successful in doing so. The allegations made in the lawsuit were totally refused by the company and they launched a complete PR campaign to handle this crisis. The camping was launched to show that what ingredients are being used by the company in their products. It was showed to consumers that 88% beef along with 12% amount of a secret recipe was used in their products making, so the claim of suing 35% beef was totally false. The PR campaign used by the company was a multi platform camping, and the first step was to use full page ads in the major newspapers. It also came up with a great response on online platforms like Facebook, YouTube and many more platforms. The campaign was so successful in managing this crisis and got great positive response from consumers, and four months later, the lawsuit was taken back, and Taco Bell was successfully able to deal a disaster or crisis through a great PR crisis management campaign (Breinig, 2014). The PR tactics used by the Taco Bell kept the basics of crisis management, which we have learned in out course material.

Creating Public Relations (PR) Tactics Crisis Management by Taco Bell

It is important for any company to understand that when things are not going well and they are faced with a crisis or disaster due to any reasons, then they have to come up with great PR tactics and run a crisis management campaign, which can keep the harms of crisis as less as possible, and then regenerate the brand reputation in eyes of customers. If I would have been the Head of PR for Taco Bell and had to manage the PR crisis mentioned in the first part, then I would have used various PR tactics. Here are the three tactics that I would have used for this PR crisis management campaign:

The first PR tactic is the effective use of social media. It is important to understand that social media can be great but disastrous as well if not handled well. So, when a crisis like Taco Bell is ongoing, then it is crucial to develop a complete social media strategy, which would be handled by a certain team, and a certain pattern of messages will be developed to target the consumers through different social media platforms. It is critical to know that during a crisis, a wrong or negative response on any social media platform can make things worst for the company. So, I will use a detailed and planned social media strategy, with dedicated and planned messages and activities on social media pages.

The second PR tactic for this crisis would be to make a short documentary, which would show that how beef is obtained by the company, how it is processed, and then how it reaches the production plant. The short documentary should also show that what quality procedures were used for the beef, and how many processes it went through. In the end, the documentary will show the last step, the preparation of food items with beef. This documentary can give complete idea to the consumers that their brand is doing everything right.

The PR tactic would be to allow people to have a live kitchen tour of the Taco Bell kitchen, where the beef is handled and used in different food products. Then make videos of these live tours taken by consumers and viral them on online platforms including short ads on TV as well. It would certainly get things on right track for the company.

Reference of Public Relations (PR) Crisis Management by Taco Bell

Breinig, M. (2014). 3 Shining Examples of How Great PR Can Conquer All. Retrieved December 11, 2018, from https://www.laneterralever.com/3-shining-examples-of-how-great-pr-can-conquer-all/#gref