Coca-Cola's Belgian Crisis - The Public Relations Fiasco
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Case Details:
Case Code : MKTG097
Case Length : 12 Pages
Period : 1999
Organization : Coca Cola
Pub Date : 2004
Teaching Note :Not Available
Countries : Belgium, Europe
Industry : Beverages - Carbonated Soft Drinks
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"Our product is quite healthy. Fluid replenishment is a
key to health. Coca-Cola does a great service because it encourages people to
take in more and more liquids."
- Michael Douglas Ivester, Coca-Cola's Chairman and CEO in
1997.
The Recall
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On June 13, 1999, the US-based Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola), the world's
largest carbonated beverages company, recalled over 15 million containers of the
soft drink after the Belgian Health Ministry announced a ban on Coca-Cola's
drinks, which were suspected of making over 100 school children ill in the
preceding six days.
This was in addition to the 2.5 million bottles already recalled in the previous
week. The company's products namely Coke, Diet Coke and Fanta, were bottled in
Antwerp, Ghent and Wilrijk, Belgium, while some batches of Coke, Diet Coke,
Fanta and Sprite were produced in Dunkirk, France.
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Children at six schools in Belgium had complained of headache, nausea, vomiting
and shivering after drinking Coca-Cola's beverages, leading to their hospitalisation.
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Most of
them reported an 'unusual odour' and an 'off-taste' in the drink. In a
statement to Reuters, Marc Pattin, a spokesman for the Belgian Health
Ministry, described the seriousness of the issue, "Another 44 children
have become ill with stomach pains, 42 of them at a school in Lochristi,
near Ghent, northwest Belgium. We have had five or six cases of
poisoning of young people who had stomach pain after drinking (the
suspect beverages)."
The same week, the governments of France, Netherlands and Luxembourg
also banned Coca-Cola's products while the company's Dutch arm recalled
all products that had come from its Belgium plant. |
Coca-Cola's Belgian Crisis - The Public Relations Fiasco
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