How to handle a crisis the right way

Posted: December 7th, 2009 | Author: aly | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off

A round of applause for the company that makes Zhu Zhu pets for handling what could have been an extremely damaging situation both quickly and correctly. This is a great example of how companies should manage their crisis comm. Here’s the synopsis:

A consumer site, www.goodguide.com, that tests the health and environmental impact of kids toys, ran a test on one of the Zhu Zhu pets (this year’s hottest “must-have” for kids) and determined that it had high levels of antimony. Antimony is used as a fire retardant in textiles and plastics, and chronic exposure can allegedly cause heart and lung problems and other health effects. Within hours of this announcement, the manufacturer of Zhu Zhu pets released not just a statement, but their entire test results of antimony in their toys. The tests, performed by a well-known independent laboratory, confirmed that the levels were in line with federal standards of safety.

Shortly after, it came to be known that Good Guide used an inexpensive X-ray device to test the toy, instead of performing more extensive solubility tests required by the federal government, as the Zhu Zhu manufacturer has done.

The company did two things right today that probably ensured they will continue to be a runaway hit this holiday season:

1) They communicated with the public swiftly. By not waiting on this important action, they effectively took control of the story.

2) They were totally transparent. Instead of coming up with a trite statement, they were totally transparent and share with millions of consumers the information that most companies keep hidden away.

This post is not meant to endorse the safety of Zhu Zhu pets. This PR pro thinks a dose of healthy critical thinking is always important. But Cepia LLC, the manufacturer of Zhu Zhu Pets, deserves a round of applause for the way they handled this situation and every company can learn from this.

More from Ubiquity

Ubiquity Recommends

Ubiquity: Ubiquitous Blog has content marketing with Arkayne Socialize.

Comments are closed.