Blue Bell Case Study

Improved Essays
1. The key audiences in the Blue Bell crisis plan are:
- Families
- Older adults
- Young adults
- Children
- Ice cream fanatics
- Blue Bell enthusiasts
- Stock holders
- Investors

2. After careful examination of the Blue Bell press releases, their social media and press conferences, the continuing theme of the organization focused on a few key points for its target audience. Those key points Blue Bell focused on included:
- Finding the root cause of the listeria contamination that were found in some of Blue Bell’s ice creams.
- Bringing in a microbiologist to the production plants to monitor for any listeria that could potentially show up in another case of Blue Bell ice cream carton.
- Conduct a “test and hold” program to ensure Blue Bell
…show more content…
If I were meeting with a company CEO, I would persuade them to take a look into having social media accounts because it can help the company’s image, build brand loyalty with its consumers, obtain feedback from consumers which can increase trust in the brand, and consumers will become more engaged with a company. Social media is also one of the great ways to communicate when there is a crisis. Consumers are able to hear first from the company instead of the media. The last thing a company wants to do is try to clean up their image due to the horrible coverage the media can do, because they did not control the situation by having a social media …show more content…
The short-term and long-term effects Blue Bell experienced was their reputation, how consumers felt about the recall and how consumers or brands will view them after this crisis. Blue Bell’s decision to recall every ice cream on the shelf in a quickly manner and how they were currently handling the listeria issue shows that they are willing to make things better, which can shortened a long-term effect to a short-term effect. However, Blue Bell’s major long-term effect was the deaths resulting from listeria.

7. The key advice that I would have given to the leadership in the Blue Bell crisis is to address the issue before it becomes a hot topic. Five years ago, tests were coming back positive for a listeria outbreak at the production plant that was sickening consumers. Blue Bell should have been more reactive to diminish the cases of bacteria floating into their ice cream. It’s always good to treat the issue before it becomes something of a

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    How did Blue Bell’s response to the contamination at its plants impact the triple bottom line? A.- Blue Bell’s response impacted the triple bottom line in different ways. In the social (People), the contamination caused different diseases that resulted in 3 deaths. In the environmental (Planet), the company warned different competitors to take special attention to the products process. Finally, in the economic (Profit), expenditures to control the problem, closed lines, shutdown, brand damages ended in losses to the company.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    While that sounds pretty clandestine, consider what would happen if Paul Kruse decided to make these changes without the cloak of listeria. While the accusation of Blue Bell planting listeria is a crazy proposal, the immense restructuring internally Blue Bell accomplished while being shut down is something one should question. Did Sid Bass offer a better business model to Paul Kruse and he acted on it, or did the circumstances present themselves in a way that made the company react accordingly and explain the questions outlined. The sphere of transparency that covers this event offers no answers, and no one will probably ever know the whole…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chipotle Research Paper

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Chipotle for the Win: For those of you NOT following the life-threatening news surrounding Chipotle, here is a quick catch up: Chipotle was slammed by a lawsuit at the end of 2015 for failing to disclose information about transgressions against food safety. This accusation was brought on by the outbreak of E. Coli found in Chipotle’s notoriously fresh ingredients. Nearly 500 people have contracted a foodborne illness from the Chipotle chain since July. Ironically, 374 of the 500 people sickened contracted the Norovirus/Norwalk virus from sick employees which had nothing to do with Chipotle’s ingredients. Taking that into account there were nearly 126 people that may have been sickened by Chipotle’s ingredients, but none died.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Eric Schlosser’s, Fast Food Nation, Schlosser says, “Roughly thirty-five million pounds of ground beef produced at the Columbus plant -- enough meat to provide every single American with a tainted fast food hamburger -- was voluntarily recalled by Hudson Foods in August of 1997” (Schlosser 194). Even though this occurred about nineteen years ago, it is still a problem today. In the news, Chipotle has also been traced with E Coli and the meat has been recalled. It is scary thinking that even after all these years, there can still be traces of E Coli in fast food restaurants today.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is a problem because there is a disconnect between the consumers and the process of how the food is made. The food industry furthers this by hiding the truth behind pretty packaging and deception. Berry asserts, “For them, then, food is pretty much an abstract idea — something they do not know or imagine — until it appears on the grocery shelf or on the table” (Para 4). This statement is explaining that consumers do not question or ponder where their food comes from, but just accepts it as it is. They see food as a constant in their lives, they purchase it when they need to and that’s all there is to it for them.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sarah a twenty-year-old student to spend Thanksgiving at her grandparent's farm. During her drive back the next day, she began to lose sight of her vision. The vision began to worsen and when help arrived she then had trouble speaking and swallowing. She was driven to the Emergency Room where she was able to tell the physician the symptoms she was experiencing, he noted that she has eaten in the last 24 hours. He was interested in the fact that her grandmother canned her own vegetables and he wanted a sample of the food items to test for the bacteria botulism.…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Unknown #11: Introduction: My patient’s name is Cara, she is currently a freshman living in a dormitory with three friends. Just two weeks in, she catches the flu. Her roommates made her soup for the next couple of days from their shared pantry of foods. Cara however progressively becomes worse and now exhibits severe symptoms of nausea and diarrhea.…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Objectives: - In order to achieve the goal of increasing sales for Blue Bell we have set three objectives. Objective one is to increase engagement on all Blue Bell social media outlets by 5% amongst ages 15 to 34 by January 31st. According to Pew Research Center, people between 18 and 29 year old utilize social media the most. In recent years older adults have gotten involved with social media for more work and networking purposes.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Vanilla is a must have with the delicious desserts and the researcher’s father was in charge of ice cream. When the researcher came home that day and opened the freezer, they saw a half gallon of Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream. It confirmed to the group the fact that despite the three deaths and multiple cases of sickness from the 2015 listeria outbreak, most consumers did not hesitate to purchase the product…

    • 1567 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Blue Bell's Social Media

    • 249 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Blue Bell’s social media expanded during the recall crisis. Many people turned to their social media accounts to get news from Blue Bell. Links to all of their press releases was the best way for people to understand the issue and how Blue Bell was taking action. The video news releases were the next best option for Blue Bell. The videos allowed the CEO, Paul Kruse to express his feelings on the crisis.…

    • 249 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The nature of the news coverage was informative and professional. The news informed people of the crisis and the companies effected by the recall. The effects of Listeria were included in the media releases. The media informed people to discard the Blue Bell they had for their safety. The worst media coverage Blue Bell received was the reports of deaths caused from the Listeria.…

    • 94 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 2009, the United States experienced a national crisis when the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) was linked to a salmonella outbreak, which resulted in deaths, illnesses, and the recall of thousands of products. The recall consequences were not only felt by PCA but also by large food companies including Kellogs, Petsmart, and General Mills. After the initial outbreak, investigations revealed a series of unethical practices including deplorable physical environments, poor working conditions, and lack of food safety.…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The American Red Cross is a non-profit organization that exists to provide compassionate care to those in need. Our network of generous donors, volunteers and employees share a mission of preventing and relieving suffering, here at home and around the world, through five key service areas: disaster relief, supporting America’s military families, health and safety training & educations, lifesaving blood, and international services. The American Red Cross was created so that there is a program out there so everyone has help when needed, can donate themselves to help others and so that the people world-wide are able to help each other. With how far technology has come today the American Red Cross public relations is able to use social media of…

    • 2240 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Listeriaia Infection

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the summer of 2008 Canadian healthcare professionals noticed an irregularly high incidence of listeriosis cases (“Listeriosis outbreak timeline”, 2009), the disease associated with infection by Listeria. This concern was disregarded until people in a nursing home fell ill and sandwich meat from the same place tested positive for the presence of Listeria monocytogenes (“Listeriosis outbreak timeline”, 2009). On August 12, 2008, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency launched an investigation of the Maple Leaf company and eventually all meat-products produced by Maple Leaf’s Toronto plant were recalled (“Listeriosis outbreak timeline”, 2009). L. monocytogenes is treatable and preventable, despite many resistant characteristics the microorganism…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I. Introduction In answering these questions we will look at what sets Magnum ice cream apart from its competitors, what values do they provide,how it is different from competitors and what differentiation strategies lead to competitive advantage to deliver superior value to customers. We will then discuss the differentiation strategies that were exercised by Magnum ice cream and how they positioned them in a highly competitive market. We will also look at the major avenues for developing a competitive advantage based on differentiating a company’s product or service offering from the offerings of rivals in ways that better satisfy buyer needs and preferences. We will then analyse the factors that contributed to the decision of Unilever to position…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics