A Monster of a Pr Crisis as Energy Drink Faces Investigation

The worst crisis a brand can face? The death of a child being linked to your product has to be top of the list. The makers of Monster, the top-selling energy drink in the United States, are in the midst of this nightmare scenario.

Monster, which contains the caffeine equivalent of seven cans of Coca-Cola, is being blamed by the family of 14-year-old Anais Fournier who they claim died after consuming two 24-ounce cans in two days. Her parents allege that the high levels of caffeine contained in the drink aggravated an existing medical condition, which led to her suffering a fatal heart attack.

The USA’s food safety authority, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating four other deaths in which the people are believed to have consumed the popular energy drink shortly before they died. The FDA also reports consumer complaints of vomiting, heart tremors and chest pain from people who had consumed the drink.

The company strenuously denies any link between its product and the deaths - and will contest the Fournier lawsuit.

A global catastrophe?

News of the crisis has now travelled over the Atlantic. Monster is sold in the UK and the British media has picked up on the FDA’s investigation. Although there are no current concerns being mooted by our own Food Standards Agency, how long before the American crisis becomes a global catastrophe?

The crisis management mantra of ‘tell it all, tell it fast and tell the truth’ should now be at the forefront of the Monster Beverage Corporation’s communications strategy. There must be consistency in its messaging. Once you’ve lost control of the debate, you may never be able to get it back.

Type ‘Monster Energy Drink’ into Google and a glut of media coverage indicates that the storm is just beginning. The story has been picked up as far away as Australia, where the press is asking whether its citizens are at risk of harm from drinking Monster.

My advice?

Take a leaf out of Johnson and Johnson’s...