Business and Situation Analysis
The Coca-Cola Crisis- Communicating with the Communities
The Situation
On 5 August 2003, the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), a research and public advocacy group released statement claiming that 12 major cold drink brands sold in the vicinity of Delhi were found to contain a number of carcinogenic substances including pesticide residues. The accusations were based on tests conducted by the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory, in which three out of twelve samples contained pesticide in quantities beyond the permissible global standards by upto 36 times. The pesticides could cause cancer, damage to the productive and nervous systems.
Sunita Narain, CSE Director also blamed the government for the problem, …show more content…
Safety standards for pesticide levels and other such chemicals in soft drinks have never made a legal requirement in India, which further complicated the problem of Coca Cola’s liability. The industry argues over whether tests are needed for the final product or the water used in the drinks. There is also debate over how to cleanse sugar of its pesticide traces and recognition that India's groundwater is so contaminated that most food products contain some pesticide residue. Given such a situation, explaining the same to consumers posed a considerable …show more content…
Status Quo
This alternative is basically being ignorant about the issue and would entail Coca-Cola to remain silent and wait for the buzz to go away. Coca-Cola could capitalize its brand power and deny the CSE’s claims by just ignoring them. It should count on the short-lived memory of the consumers. In fact, the rural area consumers might not even hear about the report. This is an easy alternative to implement
The risk involved is attraction of NGO’s and media houses to the issue more than required. Ignorance if overdone could turn out to be devastating for Coca-Cola’s brand. Consumers’ could perceive Coca-Cola as just another multi-national corporation that just wants to increase its revenues and has no regards for consumers’ health. Eventually this might lead to consumers abandoning Coca-Cola in favor of competitors such as Pepsi.
3. PR campaign
Few years back during the Belgium crisis, Coca-Cola implemented a PR-campaign to retain customer loyalty. Such a PR-campaign could be used sensitize the consumers about Coca-Cola’s efforts as a global citizen who gives back to communities. This would also show that Coca-Cola is not just a large, greedy corporation and would illustrate social and environment
The Coca-Cola Crisis- Communicating with the Communities
The Situation
On 5 August 2003, the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), a research and public advocacy group released statement claiming that 12 major cold drink brands sold in the vicinity of Delhi were found to contain a number of carcinogenic substances including pesticide residues. The accusations were based on tests conducted by the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory, in which three out of twelve samples contained pesticide in quantities beyond the permissible global standards by upto 36 times. The pesticides could cause cancer, damage to the productive and nervous systems.
Sunita Narain, CSE Director also blamed the government for the problem, …show more content…
Safety standards for pesticide levels and other such chemicals in soft drinks have never made a legal requirement in India, which further complicated the problem of Coca Cola’s liability. The industry argues over whether tests are needed for the final product or the water used in the drinks. There is also debate over how to cleanse sugar of its pesticide traces and recognition that India's groundwater is so contaminated that most food products contain some pesticide residue. Given such a situation, explaining the same to consumers posed a considerable …show more content…
Status Quo
This alternative is basically being ignorant about the issue and would entail Coca-Cola to remain silent and wait for the buzz to go away. Coca-Cola could capitalize its brand power and deny the CSE’s claims by just ignoring them. It should count on the short-lived memory of the consumers. In fact, the rural area consumers might not even hear about the report. This is an easy alternative to implement
The risk involved is attraction of NGO’s and media houses to the issue more than required. Ignorance if overdone could turn out to be devastating for Coca-Cola’s brand. Consumers’ could perceive Coca-Cola as just another multi-national corporation that just wants to increase its revenues and has no regards for consumers’ health. Eventually this might lead to consumers abandoning Coca-Cola in favor of competitors such as Pepsi.
3. PR campaign
Few years back during the Belgium crisis, Coca-Cola implemented a PR-campaign to retain customer loyalty. Such a PR-campaign could be used sensitize the consumers about Coca-Cola’s efforts as a global citizen who gives back to communities. This would also show that Coca-Cola is not just a large, greedy corporation and would illustrate social and environment