Coca-Cola and obesity - 2

Coca Cola has responded to the major Financial Times article from Friday, covered in my last blog, with a letter yesterday from the Senior VP of Public Affairs and Communications.  It is a well-judged message of collaboration and Coca-Cola's intent to be part of society's response to the issue of obesity.

However having discussed the original article in the MA PR Consumer and Celebrity lecture with the students, one aspect comes out.  The fast food outlets and large branded restaurant chains encourage staff to get customers to consume more Coca-Cola.   Glasses are large and are refilled automatically when half full.  It is this culture of consumption which Coca-Cola's sales operation must be behind with incentives for scale of consumption by these chains which needs to be addressed.   Just as the drinks industry is having to get rid of incentives to binge drinking; so Coca-Cola and other soft drinks companies need to follow a similar path of reducing excessive consumption.  That is an action which can be taken now by Coca-Cola.

The issue of Coca-Cola and obesity is an example where new thinking and wider stakeholder perspectives in particular need to be part of the discussions and input at a senior level in major consumer brands.

Coca Cola and obesity - is it a crisis event?

Reading the very good Handbook of Crisis Communications (Coombs and Holladay, 2012) and several definitions of a crisis event suggest that Coca Cola's developing problems with obesity and the threat of growing regulation in the USA, also discussed in last week's Financial Times, could be termed a crisis event.   Coombs citing Hearit (p.30) says that a "crisis is a threat to an organisation's social legitimacy.." and it could be considered in that context.   Also Benoit's image restoration theory (p.31) says that a crisis has two elements - an offensive act and an accusation of responsibility; both approaches could be seen to apply to Coca Cola.

(Source:http://www.nickcampos.com/2011/10/)

Certainly looking at the views and comments on YouTube ( Coca Cola's communications on the subject and opponents.)  and also now in the medical media and it does appear to be an issue with significant and growing public resonance.  As an issue this has grown relatively quickly and you can understand Coca Cola being wrong footed but a defence of large portions which appears to be part of Coca Cola's strategy is not a sustainable position.  It would be interesting to know if Coca Cola's approach to the issue is based on a crisis communications strategy and slow retreat.

From a consumer PR perspective, it does highlight that influential consumer brands are facing a growing range of stakeholder agendas.  

Cameron's speech on Europe pre-releases extracts set to raise pressure

The pre-release strategy of the Prime Minister's media team for his major speech on Europe with extracts made available to the media Thursday evening, makes clear how far the Conservatives have moved on Europe.  Bloomberg's, BBC and Le Figaro online coverage suggest that an exit from the EU is a very real possibility if the Conservatives win the next election.  Extracts of the speech released early are widely available online.  The Prime Minister was due to make the speech this evening in Amsterdam but it was cancelled due to events in Algeria.

Releasing extracts prior to the speech was clearly a decision taken after they knew that the speech would be postponed till next week as they wanted to dominate the agenda for the weekend's media, I assume.   The choice of extracts is fairly stark and will raise concerns as they suggest the speech is more negative on the EU than earlier briefings to the media which suggested that Cameron is determined to keep the UK in the EU.   I assume that the way the media would interpret the extracts was considered and so the choice of extracts was deliberate.  Could it be that the extracts are more extreme and the final speech will be more pro-EU - we shall see, but it will certainly raise international and business concerns.

Certainly the impression in international media, growing concerns in the USA government and UK business even some UK media is that the UK has taken leave of its senses over the whole issue.  What price will UK plc pay over this process in the short, medium and long term?