No company is immune from a crisis, not even McDonald’s. But despite the fast-food chain’s ice cream machine’s constantly being broken, its crisis communications plan was ready for action when disaster struck recently.
After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in late October that an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers resulted in one death, multiple hospitalizations and many sickened the fast-food chain cooked up one of the fastest and complete responses I’ve ever seen.
Effective Public Relations Crisis Strategies
Successful crisis communication and issues management responses are dynamic and different depending on the issue at hand. But almost all effective plans include two things: quickness and consistency. Here’s how McDonald’s response was both.
Quick Response
The news of the E. coli outbreak was published by the CDC on October 22, 2024. That same day McDonald’s delivered a public message – both written and in a video – to its stakeholders and took decisive action to find the cause of the outbreak. Coupling action with its words, McDonald’s also immediately removed the Quarter Pounder from its stores in the impacted regions and potential others.
McDonald’s took control of the story and provided actionable change to stop the spread of the illness and any misinformation that followed.
Consistency is the key ingredient
After the first message on Oct. 22, McDonald’s then kept the public informed with five updates over the next eight days. An added bonus – all the updates were kept in one article, so readers could easily reference previous messages and McDonald’s could avoid excessive repetition, making its messages clear and concise.
McDonald’s also used a mix of materials to make sure that audiences were receiving the messages. There were videos, FAQ documents, social posts, public health statements, web updates and food safety fact sheets. Any information you wanted to know about the situation, McDonald’s supplied.
Unlike most companies, rather than try to hide their problems, McDonald’s promoted them. In an effort to reach more people with the facts of the situation and how the problem was being remedied, McDonald’s actually used paid social ads to spread their message. I was served the ad on Instagram and was genuinely impressed by the company’s willingness to be so public while navigating through a major issue.
I’ll take a meal of facts, hold the compassion.
One area where McDonald’s communications missed the mark was a seeming lack of public compassion for those who were affected by the outbreak, especially for the family who lost a loved one. Focused on delivering clear and factual information, McDonald’s frequent updates left out any sort of mention of the people involved, or their customers, while reminding everyone consistently that “The health and safety of our people and customers is our top priority at McDonald’s.” That was a vague statement in this situation.
Some may argue that drawing attention to the impact of the outbreak could have hurt sales or allowed the public to blame the company for something that was out of its control. But in a world where your reputation is everything and consumers are making purchasing decisions based on the values a brand upholds, I think a small public message of condolences to the people and families involved would have gone a long way.
Before the month’s end, the CDC had traced the outbreak to the slivered onions as the source and since McDonald’s took immediate action, the risk to the public continues to be very low and no new illnesses have been reported. The story was in and out of the news cycle in a little over a week, which is more than any crisis communications professional could ask for.
Don’t let a crisis or issue catch your company unprepared. Our team of experts at Devine + Partners are ready to help you with creating issues management plans and playbooks to help you navigate difficult times with ease. Drop us a line at resteasy@devinepartners to see how we can work together.
Devine + Partners is a Philadelphia public relations agency . We offer a full range of communications services – from message and content development and media relations to issues management and employee and community engagement.
