On March 15, CCTV's "315" evening party exposed that Master Kong, Unity and other enterprises, such as Hunan Flag Vegetable Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Flag Vegetable Industry) and Hunan Jinrui Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Jinrui Company), had many food safety problems such as unsatisfactory hygiene standards and unsafe production.
Among them, the exposed "soil pit sauerkraut" caused an uproar among the public. Shortly after the program was broadcast, many e-commerce platforms such as Jingdong, Taobao, and Pinduoduo could not search for "Laotan Sauerkraut" related products.
Image source central video screenshot
At the same time, the brands involved have also issued official statements.
Unification first issued a statement saying that in the past five years, Hunan Flag Company has ceased to be a supplier of raw materials for the company's sauerkraut packages, and has immediately stopped the supplier qualification of Hunan Jinrui Company.
Subsequently, however, the statement was deleted and a new one was reissued. It was emphasized that Hunan Flagging Vegetable Industry is not a supplier and has nothing to do with the company. At the same time, the statement about the Jinrui company incident was deleted.
For Master Kang, whose products had appeared on the official website of the flag-planting vegetable industry, he also issued an apology statement immediately after the incident was exposed, saying that he had immediately terminated the supplier qualification with Hunan flag-planting vegetable industry, and at the same time removed the products related to laotan sauerkraut beef noodles.
In addition, KFC also clarified that the flagging dish industry is not a supplier and has nothing to do with the brand.
In the face of a sudden crisis, the brands involved have grasped the public relations principle of "speed first", but as to whether the negative impact can be minimized, it actually depends on other aspects such as consumer reactions and brand follow-up actions.
In this silent PR war, which brand do you think is doing better? Or are these brands better ways to respond to the crisis? Feel free to express your views in the comments section.