If you heard that your regular painkiller could have been replaced with antipsychotic drugs, you might be a little concerned. So concerned that you might want a little more information to put your mind at rest.
That is the scenario facing purchasers of Nurofen Plus following an announcement from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that some packs contain not the expected Ibuprofen, but Seroquel XL, an antipsychotic drug used to treat conditions such as schizophrenia.
Go to the Nurofen website and there appears to be no information about the incident. Move on to Nurofen’s Facebook page and there’s a great quiz, but no information about the product contamination. Turn to the website of Reckitt Benckiser and still you won’t find any advice from Nurofen or its parent company.
So, instead, you pick up the phone and call the consumer helpline listed on the Nurofen website. Unfortunately, news of the incident hit the BBC around 6pm and the helpline shut at 5pm.
Businesses which want to reassure their customers and retain their loyalty during and after a crisis need to communicate with them. That means being geared up to communicate via company websites and social media. It means having the capability to man your customer helpline 24/7 if necessary. Failing to do this leaves customers in the dark, potentially fearful and with your reputation in the hands of the commentators who are prepared to provide information. It’s a high risk crisis communication strategy.
Update
Twelve hours later and a terse statement is now available on the Nurofen website, but it contains little information or reassurance. At 8.06am the customer helpline is still closed and people are beginning to post to the Nurofen Facebook page, for example “Never mind the competitions , what about informing the public of the anti-depressants found in your packs?”. No information about the problem can be found on Nurofen’s Facebook page. People are also making their views known on Twitter. More expansive crisis communication would surely be in Nurofen’s best interests?
Update 2 (26 Aug)
Nurofen has now announced a recall of all stock in retail outlets: a more expansive communication approach is now surely essential. It has been a good war for Neal Patel, head of corporate comms at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, who has been the main communicator throughout this episode. But where has Nurofen or Reckitt Benckiser been?
Jonathan Hemus
