What suitable PR activities are Nurofen Plus carrying out after their latest product recall?

Nurofen Plus have recalled all of their remaining stock because some packs contained 'sabotage', an antipsychotic drug. The packs that contained this drug were brought from South London and another packet containing epilepsy drugs were brought from Northern Ireland. Thousands of packets have said to have been affected.

How did this drug get into the packets of Nurofen Plus? The firm claim to be working with police to find those responsible and the medical director has said 'to be taking the matter extremely seriously' but the brand Nurofen are going to have to use more PR activities than this to strengthen their relationship with their customers. Personally it has made me not want to purchase Nurofen anymore, let alone any other tablets.

The drugs found in the packets have a black and gold packaging whereas Nurofen have black and silver packaging. I am sure people wouldn't notice this, especially if they do not take tablets regularly. Meanwhile consumers are asked to return any packs to the pharmacy and those who have taken 1 or more are asked to speak to their GP.

When visiting the Nurofen website a pop-up alarms the reader on the product recall, when the reader exits the pop-up there is also a 'statement on Nurofen Plus' which the reader can also select to read. It is evident Nurofen are using a range of media channels to make a public announcement.

 Nurofen have also added  to their website statement 'We would like to apologise to our consumers and customers for any inconvenience caused and thank them in advance for their co-operation.'

At present it seems Nurofen are focusing on informing the public on the Sabotage drug, which is rightly so, but they should also be concerned about the damage it is doing to their brand identity and how they can regain the   publics interest.

I suggest they include a mission statement to their website stating what they have done so far to recall the product and how many Nurofen workers are on the case. By doing so the public can see the hard work that is going into the recall and perhaps they can still have faith for the brand. This is exactly what Toyota done when they had to face a product recall...

Reckitt Benckiser UK LTD needs to approach the recall with a customer first philosophy and create video footage to reassure customers of safety and satisfaction that they will do everything they can to ensure this will not happen again. From video footage customers are likely to believe it will not happen again because it is being said first hand. Examples will also need to be shown that people are still purchasing the product. As soon as Nurofen know all 'Sabotage' products have been returned they will need to inform the public to create ease of mind.

My advice to brands is to have a plan for dealing with product recall and maximise every communications channel.