Cops & Robbers?

So for most people, theft and crime would be the mark of a crisis-- but not for Walgreens. News for Walgreens often comes up as another robbery, another shooting, another break-in... but with a store on every corner in America, Walgreens has proven they can weather any storm that comes tearing through.

There are no major crises Walgreens has had to handle recently-- essentially it's been pretty much smooth sailing for them. Knock on wood, there have been no insider trading scandals, no tylenol contaminations, no extra-marital affairs... so the the closest that Walgreens has come to a crisis is a product recall in April 2009.

On April 21, 2009, Walgreens announced the voluntary recall of trail mix-- Deerfield Farms Mediterranean Fruit & Nut Blend-- as the pistachios in the mix could be contaminated with Salmonella. While there was no proof that nuts were indeed contaminated, and there were no reports of illness from the product anywhere else, Walgreens voluntarily recalled the snackfood, showing their customers that they care for their health & wellness.

In the news release announcing this recall, Walgreens said all of the right things:

"Walgreens takes the safety of its customers seriously and is working with the FDA on this recall...Customers who purchased the recalled products should discontinue use immediately and return items to Walgreens for an exchange or refund."

In a way, this was a pre-crisis for Walgreens, and their actions to prevent customers from consuming possibly-tainted food helped them to avoid a full-blown crisis (for example, if people were dying or becoming very ill from a product they purchased at a Walgreens).

The bigger issue in this case is that Deerfield Farms is a brand specific to Walgreens (Walgreens' home base is Deerfield, IL), available exclusively on their web site and in stores.

In this case, Walgreens' PR staff didn't have to put in much effort beyond issuing a press release and pulling the trail mix off the shelves. This was certainly a minimally-invasive issue for them to handle. These two simple actions reached their stakeholders, because they communicated with customers in-store, and potential consumers via media (if tv and newspapers picked up the news release...which in this case, was less of a crisis for Walgreens, and more of an issue for the pistachio producer plagued with salmonella).

Walgreens did all they needed to do in this situation-- they handled it perfectly in my opinion. Although it seems minor, they avoided huge issues that could emerge by taking swift action to protect their customers. They recalled the product, announced exactly why they were doing so, and ensured everyone that they were working with the necessary authorities to prevent any harm to their customers. They also maintained their image by including their concern for the safety of their customers right in their initial media statement.

The only additional suggestion I have for further outreach would be for Walgreens to launch some sort of investigation into all Deerfield Farms brands, just to ensure customers that no other products from this line are contaminated. If they were sure that this case of salmonella was isolated to one particular facility, they should additionally assure customers that this is the case. However, it makes sense why Walgreens wouldn't dwell on the entire line, because they don't want to draw extra attention to a seemingly-small, and fixable problem.