Taco Bell is one of the biggest fast food chains in the United States, serving up up tacos all across the country. In 2011, the company was slapped with a lawsuit from a customer and was being accused of not having real beef. "When a lawsuit questioned Taco Bell’s ‘meat mixture’ and allegations surfaced that the fast food giant’s tacos contained a mere 35 percent of ground beef, the media had a field day"(Crandall, Parnell, Spillan 2013). This created a storm and line of questioning surrounding the company. We live in a society where we already question if our food is authentic or "real". With everyone sensitive around food matters, the company knew they needed to handle this situation the correct way. They would need to ensure that they would maintain their integrity and trust with their customer base.
Taco Bell claims to have their tacos made of 88% beef and 12 % of "other" ingredients. Taco Bell came clean to reveal that there 12% of secret ingredients couldn't be that secret anymore. Taco Bell looks at Kant's ethics" a motive to do what is right".(MacKinnon, 2015, p.114).They revealed their secret ingredients to share with the world so that they could be transparent about what is truly in their products. In revealing what is in their secret ingredients, Taco Bell knew " the ends justifies the means"(MacKinnon, 2015, p.99). Taco Bell was able to use make light of the situation and create the campaign of "Thank You For Suing Us.".
This campaign was an excellent way to combat the bad press that came their way. Taco Bell came to settle their lawsuit and the PR campaign helped immensely to attribute to this. The transparency of the company helped to bounce back and helped the lawsuit to be quickly dismissed. Taco Bell still leads as one of top fast food chain in the United States of America. References Crandall, William, John Parnell, and John Spillan. "Taco Bell Thanks You for Suing Them." (2013): Retrieved from:http://ampagency.com/author/ampdev/
MacKinnon, B. (2015). Ethics: theory and
contemporary issues. (2nd edition) Wadsworth
Publisher, Boston, MA.
Sterling, C. (n.d.). 'Thank You For Suing Us': Taco Bell Fights Beef Lawsuit With
October 2014, the nation was concerned and fearful of the news of Ebola sneaking its way into the United States. On September 30th, the CDC confirmed that there was a case of Ebola in the United States. Thomas Duncan had arrived to Dallas, Texas to visit his family members and spend time with him. September 26th,he was taken to Texas Presbyterian Hospital for feeling ill with a fever. He was taken back to the hospital two days later and was then confirmed with a case of Ebola 48 hours later.
This put the nation into panic mode and overwhelming amount of questions had arisen because of this. Who was he in contact with since he had been here in the United States? When did the symptoms start showing? Why did he get turned away the first time? How was this hospital and every other hospital prepared to receive a patient like this? Is there a cure? There are so many questions that have arisen from this situation. The ethical and procedural practices of a hospital and staff have been called into question.
The fear was not only placed into the citizens of the country but in the staff of Texas Presbyterian Hospital. On October 10th, Nina Pham, a nurse at
Texas Presbyterian was placed in isolation when she displayed flu like
symptoms. Shortly after, she was confirmed with a case of Ebola. Only days
later a second nurse, Amber Vinson was diagnosed with the third case of Ebola
in the city of Dallas. This had sparked controversy surrounding the hospital
with training of their staff. Nurses rallied and protested about the training
that they did received, while others had resigned because they did not feel
safe at this hospital. Nurses did not
have the proper attire on, just having goggles and gloves left other parts of
their body to be exposed.In this
instance, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson were the unfortunate ones to contract the deadly
disease. The hospital was also under scrutiny on how they treated Timothy
Duncan, the first Ebola patient.
The hospital also saw a significant decrease in the
patients being admitted into the hospital. In the month of October, the
hospital saw a decrease in 22% of patients being admitted. The hospital also
lost about 25% of their revenue for the month. The hospital knew their image
and institution was hurting from this crisis and knew that they needed to turn
it around. The hospital knew they had to launch a PR campaign to help their
image and transform all of this bad press to gain a positive image.
The hospital launched a social media and PR campaign
with help of Burson-Marsteller. The
first thing that the PR firm encouraged was for the hospital to speak to the press and admit to their earlier mistakes of not taking in Timothy Duncan and
other errors that were made in the beginning and cold have been avoided by some
actions. In the case of Texas
Presbyterian Hospital displayed the ethical values of utilitarianism. “Utilitarianism
focuses on the consequences for all persons impacted by an action” (MacKinnon,
2015, p. 95). The hospital launched the #IAMPresbyProud campaign which included
staff stating their positive experience of working at the hospital. This was
done in hopes to get the trust of the public back. There is a video of Nina
Pham stating “I love you guys” to the staff and showing her appreciation to the
Texas Presbyterians staff in taking care of her. The hospital knew that
regardless because of their errors that this would be a hard to bounce back
from. Time has been the key to healing and gaining the trust of the public.
Watch:https://youtu.be/5Wl8-LXTJas
References
Beaubien, G. (2014). Amid Ebola Fears, Texas Hospital Tries to Repair Its Image. Public Relations Tactics, 21(11), 6.
MacKinnon, B. (2015). Ethics: theory and
contemporary issues. (2nd edition) Wadsworth
Publisher, Boston, MA.
Wade, G. (2014). Dallas Hospital Deals With Aftermath Of Ebola Missteps. Weekend Edition Saturday (NPR)
Williamson, R. (2014). Dallas Presbyterian Hospital Took 25% Hit In Ebola Episode. Bond Buyer,
