19 Comment(s)

1. On Aug 3, 2006, Kami Huyse, APR said:

   Where are the pesticides coming from? Unfilleterd water? something else? The news coverage here doesn’t say.

2. On Aug 3, 2006, Rakesh said:

   Is there any test on the bottled water industry??

   that will be interesting to see.

3. On Aug 4, 2006, hobbit said:

   hi kami, tats a good point…we would definitely want to know the source.

   rakesh, I suppose there was a study on bottled water by CSE some years back, which found 30 brands of packaged natural mineral water from Delhi and Mumbai to contain pesticides, which resulted in the new bottled water standards from 2004.

   Also, other studies say groundwater, 80% of India’s rural domestic water needs, and 50% its urban water needs, contains fluoride, iron, arsenic and other heavy metals above permissible limits in 15 States, primararily due to pollution from fertilisers and pesticides used in agriculture, and mass disposing of industrial and municipal waste in natural water bodies.

4. On Aug 4, 2006, Anonymous said:

   genesis and perfect should move quickly and organise a joint press conference, show the media the quality control of these companies and their say to the media on the report. forget the cola wars for some time…it’s hell big time crisis

5. On Aug 4, 2006, Kami Huyse, APR said:

   This crisis is a little hard for us to understand in the US because our groundwater has to be treated. If this happened here, while bad, we would blame the local municipality for not treating its water adequately. So forgive me for being uneducated, but does your local government (or provate companies) treat your drinking water? or would that responsibility fall to the soda manufacturers? Or, does everyone have their own well system? In other words, is the water out of the faucet contaminated too?

6. On Aug 4, 2006, hobbit said:

   Hi Kami, municipal plants do treat the driking water, though controversial in their own way, that goes to houses here in the cities. But remember we are talking about remote country sides where the factories of these cola giants are located and from where they use natural water resources like ponds and groundwater for their factories, much to other controversies. The problem seems to be with the systems these soft drink manufacturers use to treat groundwater for use in manufacturing their drinks. Coke and Pepsi in 2003 have jointly challenged CSE’s findings saying their water treatment adhere to the best global standards, and there were no proper norms for bottled water in India that time. But now that there is a standard, let’s see what they do.

   Resource:
   CSE releases new study on pesticides in soft drinks
   why blame the cola giants
   Health Minister: Coke plant will not be allowed to function
   India: Soft Drinks, Hard Cases

7. On Aug 4, 2006, Kami Huyse, APR said:

   Thanks for helping me more fully understand the issue than the international media have. You have got to love blogs.

   All I can say (from a PR perspective) is that they better meet and exceed the standards, it will cost a lot less than the loss of faith by one of the biggest markets in the world.

8. On Aug 6, 2006, shivam said:

   You are strange, sir. What Coke and Pepsi need is not PR. They need to stop using pesticides in the cold drinks! Or to PROVE that they don’t put pesticides! If they don’t even reveal the formula they use to make their drinks, how can we trust them?

   http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2299363,00.html#startcontent

   Also see this:

   Deepak Talwar, a prominent Delhi lobbyist, represented Coca-Cola, which had been accused of harming the environment. The company, which declined to comment for this article, has denied the charges. Talwar’s lobbying approach was to ensure, among other things, that every government or private study accusing the company of environmental harm was challenged
   by another study.

   In addition, Talwar said during an interview, he lobbied high-ranking government officials to support the company’s cause, in the hope that their influence – in addition to the conflicting studies – might dissuade government scientists from making a clear-cut judgment against the company.

   From: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/18/business/lobby.php

   So is this what PR is all about? Spreading lies, selling pesticides?

   Needless to say, I am frothing with disgust, spilling my coke over the keyboard!

   best,
   s

9. On Aug 6, 2006, hobbit said:

   Hi Shivam, thanks and glad that you dropped in your feedback. I agree with you that Coke and Pepsi need to come clear – whether it is revealing the contents of their drinks(which is unlikely) or stop using pesticides. How?? Maybe by discussing the source of pesticides, and what steps they could take from now on to avoid any contamination in the future. Or else, challenge the CSE study like anybody can in a democracy, with another study.

   But how do they tell the public about what they are going to do now? What is their answer? Do they say sorry? Do they plan to work together now with the masses for better quality soft drinks? People trusted these brands and now that they are in serious trouble of losing their consumers’ trust and equity, they have to tread carefully. Every announcement that they make now will be viewed critically. That is where good PR thinking comes useful. But yes, PR cannot hide a wrong or seek to justify one. Coke and Pepsi’s PR ideally wouldn’t try to fight the CSE’s study with lies, but with objective facts and figures. If they resort to something else, they are the culprits, not the profession.

   I think what Talwar is doing,if it is true, is a bit different from the PR we have been discussing here and it has got its own name. That said, I think he has every right to speak for his clients and try to win the good faith of politicians. As long as he does not fabricate the truth, what’s the harm? We do talk about the good things that we have done, to our parents, friends, teachers, or bosses to win their pats, don’t we?

   Even I’m not much into Coke and Pepsi anyways, preferred beer all the way…;-)

10. On Aug 7, 2006, hobbit said:

    Talk about using blogs as a PR resource to collect customer feedback, look at the sheer number of comments (97 right now) on this post on Coke and Pepsi at Netscape.

11. On Aug 8, 2006, Prasanna said:

    What hobbit writes comes close to my own conclusions. When I first read of the study of the Centre for Science and Environment (of 02 August 2006), I was shocked. I wanted to know if it is true what Vijay Kumar Malhotra said “These companies are playing with the lives of millions and we can’t ignore such warnings any more, and we can’t ignore such warnings any more. It is time to ban them.” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/72b72162-241f-11db-ae89-0000779e2340.html
    And I wanted to know why the political reaction was so strong and fast.

    So I did some research on the net, and was I found was closer to what the Financial Times wrote at the end of their article of 07 August 2006:
    “Almost any product in India, from tap water to milk, contains traces of toxins due to overuse of pesticides by farmers. This seeps into local ground water, which is used in more than 80 per cent of soft drinks.” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/72b72162-241f-11db-ae89-0000779e2340.html

    There are two studies of Government research institutions (the Central Food technology Research Institute http://www.cftri.com/ and the Central Food Laboratory http://mohfw.nic.in/kk/95/ia/95ia0201.htm) of 2004 that are quoted by an ad of Pepsi, which gave one simple message:
    1) Trusted Laboratories (under democratic control, other than the CSE) have proved two years ago, that the pesticide residues in Pepsi brand beverages are way lower than limits set by the Health Ministry
    2) The Tolerance of government standarts for comparable products like tea are 28000 times higher!
    http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=3976

    When you see at the same time how angry and loud some politicians and the CSE are screaming at the “evil US-corporates” Pepsi and Coca Cola, I think the basic conclusions to be drawn are:

    1) Yes there are pesticides in all our products and the drinking water in India, which should worry us
    2) Yes the government limits for pesticide residues in our products are way to low (and haven’t developed much in the last years since the last scandal)
    3) Blaming Pepsi and Coca Cola is an anti-western populist agenda that has nothing to do with the problem. Even the study of CSE does no comparison to our traditional drinks as Tea (because normal Water in Tea or Coffee is less filtered than the one in Pepsi!)
    4) There should be a new independent study that compares comparable products!
    5) It seems to me way safer to drink Pepsi than to get a tea in India

    I am happy for any comments and conclusions of other people who did deeper research in the topic!
    Best wishes,
    Prasanna

12. On Aug 8, 2006, hobbit said:

    Good research Prasanna. So Pepsi has finally launched its PR campaign, or the public awareness campaign, starting with its advertisement in national mainline dailies yesterday, followed with a story on BS, and it is indeed a bigger worry if it is right about tea and eggs containing more pesticide residues than the soft drinks. But is it comparable? For instance a tea in a dhaba is different from the one made at home? Ok, they might use the same water source. Or do pesticides in tea and other products harm us as much as pesticides in soft drinks?

    I agree there is a certain section of the political parties that go with the anti-MNC mindset, but they have so far remained quiet because these MNCs also provide thousands of jobs to Indians.

    (Good PR initiative by Pepsi, btw, according to me, taking the focus away from ‘pesticides in Pepsi and Coke’ to ‘pesticides in our daily food’. Let’s see if it clicks.)

13. On Aug 10, 2006, Anonymous said:

    A post from the yahoo image management group-

    “I had a discussion with Mr R Desikan, Founder, Consumers
    Association of India and one of the leading consumer activits of India.

    1. When problems were brought out to Coke and Pepsi by consumer gorups in bottling, they never responded. They did not allow the consumer groups to visit
    the factory.
    2. They never appeared before the consumer courts, giving least
    respect to the consumers and even judicial system. . One of their staff would pay the fine whatever imposed.
    3. They ensured nothing appeared in the media, by giving huge
    advertisements.
    4. They brought in leading film stars and sports persons of India as their brand ambassadors and started releasing ads in print and visual media heavily.
    5. When they were pointed out about the high content of ‘pesticides’ by the Scientists and consumer groups, instead of rectifying the problems, they resorted to scandalising the complainants. Even on few
    occassions, they misquoted the Health Minister of India.

    According to Mr Desikan, such type of unfriendly approach of Cola
    companies only lead to the loss of credibility amongst the people. He even said that in future, the concept of ‘brand ambassadors’ also may also suffer credibility. If any personality endorses a ‘bad product’, he may also lose
    credibility in the market.

    According to some media sources, Pepsi and Coke might have lost around 50 percent of market in India. With so much of negative publicity, it is also likely to suffer more in future. Now they are spending huge amount by way of
    advertisements. Now it is taking the shape of ‘mass movement’ in India to oppose Cola companies.

    As is usually said, “PR is not a substitue for performance”. It is
    quite dangerous to ‘white wash’ the poor quality or abad product
    through PR techniques.”

14. On Aug 11, 2006, Subir Ghosh said:

    Rakesh: The 2003 CSE study on colas actually followed its findings on bottled water. The Indian government had then promptly issued standards to be followed. But in the case of colas, it has been sitting on the issue for three years. And Ramadoss says these things take time. Whatever he means.

    Hobbit: Newswatch has a blog tracking the cola controversy. Check out COLAteral Damade at http://colas.inscriptionsindia.net/

15. On Aug 15, 2006, filter kaapi said:

    If you look at the groundwater in Europe and America, it is much more contaminated than in India. In India, the average pesticide consumption per hectare is 450 grams per hectare. If you look at Holland, the per hectare pesticide usage or consumption is 11,000 grams per hectare. In Japan it is 12,000 grams. In the U.S. it is 3,000 grams. And 99.9% of the pesticides go into the environment, whether they leech into the water or they go into the air. Only 0.01% hits at the target – everyone knows that. And they use 700 different kinds of pesticides. In India, we use 160 different kinds of pesticides. How come in those countries they sell colas which are without any pesticides?

16. On Aug 16, 2006, hobbit said:

    anybody?

17. On Aug 21, 2006, JP said:

    >> Anonymous said:

    As is usually said, “PR is not a substitue for performance”. It is
    quite dangerous to ‘white wash’ the poor quality or abad product
    through PR techniques.”

    –

    While I agree that PR is not a substitute for poor product performance, poor PR and poor response to a PR crisis can indeed cause poor corporate performance.

    Take a look at this article about how Coke and Pepsi failed to appropriately respond to this situation. Regardless of their product, they certainly could have shown more concern.

    Loosing close to 50% market share sounds high, but wow that is significant.

18. On Nov 22, 2006, Sarah said:

    Public Relations is not and act of ‘hiding’ or ‘covering’ something up. A good public relations practitioner will work with transparency, tell the truth, tell it all, and tell it now. The job of a public relations practioner is to build a program that caters to its stakeholders, it’s not a publicity stunt. They are highly trained in management and people. Get your facts right.

    Coke and Pepsi are in a very difficult situation. Although the pesticides in the cola drinks are not their fault, it is in fact their problem. Understand that no one is trying to hide anything, they are just in fact trying to figure out a way they can sustain their presence in a large market like India. Keep in mind they are currently practicing corporate social reponsibility, specifically spearheaded towards eliminating these problems. Do your research.

    International corporations such as Coca-Cola provide a lot of opportunity for people. It’s the reason why many countries are able to employ their people, and develop a middle class. Coca-Cola adheres to high standards of practice, but no company is perfect. They were not aware of the lack of regulations in India regarding water and pesticide use. Furthermore, some of the pesticides used in India are banned in most other countries. I think the problem is a lot deeper than what is in your cola. So don’t waste your time on this when you could spend it on lobbying the Indian governement to build clear regulations and guidelines or something else useful.

19. On Dec 15, 2006, KAMALJIT SINGH JASSAL said:

    POOR PRODUCT 7 POOR SERVICE OF WHIRLPOOL
    After saving enough, me and my wife thought of buying a 400 litres whirlpool fridge. To our horror, not only the product is bad but also despite pursuing the company reps on telephones(call center) and emailing they render a poor close to nil service. Now i regret of buying Rs 40,000/= whirlpool fridge. This all is despite buying a six year peace plan from the company. Officers in the higher management are also lethargic in handling repeated complaints of consumer.