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You can't hide a bad smell
By Rina Rozenberg

They say you should learn from your mistakes. But it seems that the Central Bottling Company, fondly if inaccurately known as "Cola Cola Israel," evidently scorns clich?s. The trauma it underwent just this February regarding contaminants in mineral water marketed by its subsidiary Neviot seems to have left no marks.

What's for sure is that the company repeated its mistakes when on Monday it discovered a bad smell in the Coca Cola bottles it markets in Israel.
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That day the company began removing the offending family-size bottles of Coca Cola and diet Coke from retail stores up and down the land. But consumers had no way of knowing why the popular soda had suddenly disappeared from the shelves. Not even the company's representatives knew why they had received orders to yank the drink from stores, and top people at the supermarkets didn't even know that the company was, in effect, recalling its products. Only the lower ranks knew it was happening, though they weren't told why - only that the problem wasn't serious.

Once TheMarker learned of the vanishing bottles, it contacted the Central Bottling Company and was told the issue would be checked. Only that evening did the company make an official announcement.

The company said its quality assurance tests had found suspected deviation in odor in a limited production series. The problem originated with the supplier of carbon dioxide and had nothing to do with production processes at its own plant, the Central Bottling Company said.

It added that the defective products were not hazardous to health and that they were being withdrawn from stores merely for the sake of caution.

'Old-fashioned management'

Crisis managers and media advisers observing the affair from afar say that even though the mishap did not endanger the public, the Central Bottling Company made mistakes.

If it were to err, the company should have done so on the side of caution and made full public disclosure. It shouldn't get caught staying mum about a problem, says Benny Cohen, co-owner of the public relations firm Rimon-Cohen-Shenkman. It's a question of the company's credibility in the public's eyes. The only way to establish credibility is to be transparent, even when the problem is a minor one, he says. Consumers forgive mishaps, but they don't like attempts to hide information from them.

A source in the retail sector agrees. "They did everything wrong," he said. "You can't recall [products] from 1,000 stores without anybody finding out. It isn't right to hide. Reporting the problem wouldn't have created hysteria. If it's acting like that, Coca Cola is an old, old-fashioned company. It was naive to think the problem wouldn't come out. It's enough for the representative of a competing company to see the recall: He'd spread the word. This is a very belligerent company, with old-fashioned management in this area."

Zamir Dahbash, co-owner of the Shalom Tel Aviv public relations and resource management firm, says there's no such thing as a "silent recall." And there shouldn't be: It's the company's responsibility to be open with its customers, in better times and worse.

When you manage risk at a company, you have to assume that things like this will get out. It's better to control the way the issue gets publicized. That gives you points with the consumer, says Dahbash. "In the digital age, crises like this start on the Internet, and if the company doesn't react fast, mass hysteria starts. You can't wait for the consumer to discover it on some blog or forum," he said.

Mistakes happen. Problems will inevitably crop up at any company that sells products to millions, let alone billions, of consumers, he adds. But the company has to take responsibility, not sit back hoping shoppers won't notice.

Recalls are not rare. Maadanot conducted a large recall in February amid concerns about possible listeria bacteria infection in certain frozen foods. As soon as the concerns arose, Maadanot informed the public, advised people not to eat the affected products until the source of the trouble was cleared up, and withdrew its products

At first Maadanot recalled just one product. But since listeria can pass from person to person by touch, for the sake of caution it halted all its production lines and disinfected the whole plant, losing tens of millions of shekels.

In another case, parents reported that their babies were vomiting shortly after drinking Top 3 Similac baby formula. The moment the company Abbott fielded the complaints, it published an announcement. The Health Ministry examined the product in its laboratories and after 10 days said no problems had been found.

In fact, there was no real problem from the consumer's perspective with Coca Cola either: Whatever the trouble, it caused no harm, says a marketing strategist. The problem is how the consumer views a silent recall. The attempt to spare the company from embarrassment could cost it dearly, he says.

These days the norm is to share information with consumers as much as possible; in this instance, the Central Bottling Company's behavior contravenes all conventional wisdom of modern marketing, says the marketing strategist. "I suspect the decision wasn't made by the right people at the company," he said.

Of course, the Central Bottling Company didn't exactly reinvent the wheel here. Just this February, contamination was found at the springs from which the companies Mayanot Eden and Neviot pump water they sell as mineral water. Both firms waited days before advising the public about the contamination. They explained their behavior by saying that all their products in stores had met quality assurance standards and were safe for consumption.

Not in this latest case, though: The drinks with the odor and aftertaste were on store shelves. As no harm to consumers was expected, the temptation to do nothing and gloss over the problem was tremendous, says a public relations expert.

This is the point at which professionals need to step in and say stop. Secrets can't be kept. Ever. People talk. The bigger the company, the clearer it is that the news will get out. "Cola thought they had tremendous clout, that if they sent hordes of representatives out there to quickly replace the products, the problem would go away. But it got out," the PR expert said.

Coca Cola commented that it published a clear statement about suspected deviation in smell in a limited series. It discussed the details of the affected series and told consumers what to do if they had already bought the product.

Its announcement included the important information that tests showed there was no health hazard, Coca Cola said. It cited the origin of the problem and, naturally, apologized to the public about the inconvenience. The next day it ran ads in the papers in coordination with the Health Ministry, as is the accepted norm, the company added.
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