Tonight I was so disappointed to hear about the issues with the Happy Baby dummies, and the company’s response. Now we all make mistakes, it’s not hard for things to go wrong, and even if we don’t believe the product will cause problems, what harm would it do to recall and investigate? I work for a very ethical company and put my faith in the fact we would react quickly and with maximum caution if our products even hinted at being, not quite right. With Happy Baby being an Australian company, like my own workplace, I am even more disappointed that they may compromise the health of a child, the health of their brand, and the health of Australian Made. Hello (not so) Happy Baby, just RECALL the product straight out, isn’t this PR 101? 
If the likes of Woolworths have taken it off the shelf, I’m sure you’ll be picking up the bill for that anyway, and as for reputation management…. Where do I start? Whatever you have or haven’t done, however “isolated” the two incidents were, your defense doesn’t cut it for the Australian consumer, let alone a mother who is ready to protect her new little wonder that has come into the world at any cost. The Happy Baby website talks about the Australian Safety standard and how the company meets these standards, however I’m pretty sure, like many regulatory guidelines, that these standards are the minimum standard for compliance, and you are more than welcome to exceed these rather than sit back and watch the review for improvement (not an expert opinion of course).
“Dummies currently come under voluntary Australian safety standard (AS2432-1991). This standard is currently under review in order to update and improve the standard to provide optimum product safety, a direction which is supported by Happy Baby® in the interests of maximising the safety of dummies for Australian families.” http://happybaby.com.au/standards.php (accessed: 21/7/2010).
I really don’t want to see this company suffer from poor crisis management plans, I’ll watch closely to see if this could make for a good marketing case study in the future.
If the likes of Woolworths have taken it off the shelf, I’m sure you’ll be picking up the bill for that anyway, and as for reputation management…. Where do I start? Whatever you have or haven’t done, however “isolated” the two incidents were, your defense doesn’t cut it for the Australian consumer, let alone a mother who is ready to protect her new little wonder that has come into the world at any cost. The Happy Baby website talks about the Australian Safety standard and how the company meets these standards, however I’m pretty sure, like many regulatory guidelines, that these standards are the minimum standard for compliance, and you are more than welcome to exceed these rather than sit back and watch the review for improvement (not an expert opinion of course).“Dummies currently come under voluntary Australian safety standard (AS2432-1991). This standard is currently under review in order to update and improve the standard to provide optimum product safety, a direction which is supported by Happy Baby® in the interests of maximising the safety of dummies for Australian families.” http://happybaby.com.au/standards.php (accessed: 21/7/2010).
I really don’t want to see this company suffer from poor crisis management plans, I’ll watch closely to see if this could make for a good marketing case study in the future.
Suggestion to talk to your 1,500+ facebook fans/likes asap and get a better read on any reputation movements.
Would you buy a soother from Happy Baby?
I totally agree with you - the safety of your child is of paramount importance. The company would have saved face if they had of recalled the product immediately and communicated to the consumers that they were taking this seriously - it is 2 cases too many for my liking.
ReplyDeleteKat
Mother of 2