if i was doing pr for menu foods...

I saw an article on the MSN homepage today that calls me to take another look at the Menu Foods pet food recall debacle. Talk about a company going down like a sinking ship. In the complete and total absence of any communication efforts from Menu Foods, I have come up with some potential PR moves that Menu Foods would really benefit from.

1. First of all, why in the heck are tainted foods still on store shelves? If the pet food industry is as heavily regulated as the Pet Food Institute claims, why is there no action plan for immediate removal of tainted products?

My PR suggestion: This really needed to be something prepared ahead of time as part of a crisis plan, but since it wasn't, let's turn it around and use it as for our advantage. Create a contact list of every supplier carrying your pet food products with a direct contact line (i.e.- a phone number) to a department manager or other sales associate who would be immediately responsible for removing harmful items the minute they receive the call. Since we know a list like this doesn't exist, publicize the fact that your making one. This can help restore consumers' trust in the company and demonstrate that this incident has not been taken lightly by company executives.

2. Second, all of this lying low by Menu Foods does NOT improve their image in the eyes of consumers and the media. It just makes them look guilty. As you see towards the bottom of the article, Menu Foods declined to attend a hearing by the FDA.

My PR suggestion: Hiding looks bad. Accepting responsibility and facing the public looks good. Get out there and apologize. It is YOUR fault that people lost their beloved pets. Hire a spokesperson, an expert in the animal field that the public can trust. Hold press conferences where the spokesperson gives weekly or daily updates on the situation. Have the spokesperson show up at events like the FDA hearing and speak on behalf of the company.

3. Third, the lack of steady communication must be corrected immediately. In the article, Senator Durbin calls attention to Menu Foods' delayed notification to the FDA of tainted foods, even though tests showed animals were getting sick from it.

My PR suggestion: Wow, this one does look incredibly bad because it compounds people's possibly unfounded notions that Menu Foods was consciously hiding dangerous problems. But I'll tackle this one too. Communications is the key here. This message could be wrong. If it is, Menu Foods has no conduit to disseminate the correct information to the public. Use the Web and social media. Start a blog where consumers can go to get their questions answered. Have veterinarians involved in this process so that consumers can be confident they're getting the best advice on health for their pets.

Other tips I have:

• Set up a memorial fund in honor of the pets who died from the tainted food. Use the fund as a vehicle to promote pet health and to help adopt out homeless pets. It might also help to ease the pain of pets owners who lost their beloved companions.
• Work with another agency like the FDA or the Pet Food Institute to come up with a list of safe pet foods that consumers could switch to. This lets consumers know that you care more about the health and well-being of their pets than your bottom line. Take the financial hit now, in the long run it will pay off.
• Pet connection did a great job with this. Check out their page with a link to The Pet Food List complied by PetsitUSA.com. Complete list of all NOT recalled foods and info. about each one. Kudos guys for a great job!

Finally, in closing, good PR by Menu Foods means that Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, would never have to make this comment, "We didn’t have all the answers ourselves.”