Word: outbreaks
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Taco Bell's attempt at damage control needs damage control. The fast-food chain has responded poorly to this week's E. coli outbreak, experts say, and its bad public relations could hamper Taco Bell's efforts to reassure its customers...
...have been hospitalized, seven with potentially fatal kidney failure, and more cases are likely to be reported. The New York Times reported on Friday that there are at least 169 confirmed E. coli cases, most of them centered on Long Island and in New Jersey. The cause of the outbreak remains unknown, although green onions from Taco Bell restaurants are the suspected source. Both the CDC and Food and Drug Administration are investigating...
...Taco Bell's president, Greg Creed, has posted three short statements on the restaurant's web site since the outbreak was linked to the chain on Monday. Even those written statements were late in coming, says Timothy Coombs, a crisis management expert at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill. "The story broke Monday morning and Taco Bell did not have anything up until later that evening," Coombs says. "People were looking for information online and there was nothing there...
...Wendy's finger episode turned out to have been a hoax. Taco Bell faces a more challenging public-relations task, since the E. coli outbreak could raise health concerns about the chain that will far outlast the specific threat...
Unfamiliar threats are similarly scarier than familiar ones. The next E. coli outbreak is unlikely to shake you up as much as the previous one, and any that follow will trouble you even less. In some respects, this is a good thing, particularly if the initial reaction was excessive. But it's also unavoidable given our tendency to habituate to any unpleasant stimulus, from pain and sorrow to a persistent car alarm...