Tellem Worldwide, Inc. has a proprietary "PR Crisis Scale for the Food Industry," a tool companies and the
media can use to help grasp the depth and ramifications of negative publicity as it occurs and learn the steps required to
remedy it. Susan Tellem, RN, partner Tellem Worldwide, says her 25 plus years in public relations, as well as the increasing
ability of media to spread a negative story worldwide spawned the idea of creating a PR Crisis Scale. Patterned after the
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, the Tellem PR Crisis Scale ranks the public relations aspects of a food or restaurant crisis
from 1 to 5, with 5 being the greatest, based on its severity. Tellem says that by knowing the size and potential negative
impact of a crisis, companies can manage their expectations and resources better, thus giving them the best chance to repair
an image and win back the public's (and media's) trust. Like a hurricane, a PR crisis can increase or decrease in
intensity based on subsequent developments. Some examples of crises and their rankings include:
5 - Deadly food borne
illness, restaurant killings (death or permanent closure)
4 - American Beef Industry Mad Cow Response/Obesity link to
fast food (millions of dollars at stake - reputation in danger of tremendous loss of credibility)
3 - Bread (carb) industry/Supermarket
Strike in California (potential for significant loss of revenue and difficulty in regaining reputation)
2 - Product recall/fois
gras protests (entailing the need for big corporate apologies and/or causing damage to the brand)
1 - Worker demonstration
single location/health department closure for a day due to no potable water (mostly localized with negligible damage to the
brand) The Tellem staff has been called in to act as experts for both law firms and media, most recently quoted in a
variety of newspapers as well as appearing on local news, ET and C-Span. For more information email Tellem at stellem@tellem.com.
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