Page 39 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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2 20 Crisis Communication
In October 1997, Mercedes-Benz in Sweden conducted test drives
with its new Mercedes-Benz A class, a small and practical automobile.
The so-called moose test, where a car is tested to see how it copes with a
sudden evasive manoeuvre, went completely wrong. The car proved not
to be able to hold the road and could overturn. Mercedes was forced to
delay the launch of the new vehicle and to re-engineer its set-up.
Even Rolls-Royce and Bentley, the archetypal status vehicles, had to
recall more than 1,725 vehicles in October 1999 because they had
problems with the thermostats and seat-warming systems. Something
similar happened to Ford Europe in December 2000. A bug in the
computer chip for the airbag meant that the company had to recall
2,500 Ford Mondeos.

The country is paralysed

People are often the victims of a crisis, but crises are often about
people, too. Social conflicts arise for the most diverse reasons and are
fought out in the most diverse ways. Personnel express their dissatis-
faction through official or wildcat strikes, demonstrations, sit-ins, road
blockades, sometimes even with violence, enough to paralyse a
company or a whole sector very quickly.
In September 2000, Belgian roads were blockaded by disgruntled
truckers. They parked their vehicles on all the important access roads
from and to the major cities. Economic life was completely disrupted.
Employees had to stay at home for the simple reason that they were
unable to get to work. Goods transport was brought to a halt on
Belgian roads. Foreign transport companies also experienced major
disruptions.
Employees can also take centre stage in a crisis in another way. An
epidemic can bring work in a company to a complete halt. At the end
of the 1990s, a serious flu epidemic broke out in Scotland and
northern England. Thousands of people were so sick that they had to
be admitted to hospital. Many patients died. Within no time, clinics
were filled beyond capacity. Patients were forced to stay in corridors
and improvised rooms were set up in the basements. Many doctors
and nurses also contracted the virus. The few doctors who were left
standing could no longer deal with the flood of patients. Schools, com-
panies and government were completely paralysed.

The cowboy without a cigarette

If a company’s economic activity itself becomes the subject of a crisis,
that company has a major problem. It is being hit in the core of its