Health literacy and crisis: Public relations in the 2010 egg recall
Introduction
Crises present organizations and agencies with unique communication challenges. However, crises that also present health risks, in particular, create communication exigencies that require additional consideration (Seeger & Reynolds, 2008). The primary concern of a health-related crisis response is to provide information that can prevent illness, injury, and death (Reynolds, 2002). Therefore, the first step for public relations practitioners should be to develop and disseminate messages that will be most effective in eliciting appropriate protective action for the health and safety of affected publics. Practitioners who seek first to explain the background of a crisis or shift the blame for the crisis ignore their primary responsibility in a crisis that increases health risks—to protect the public's wellbeing.
The media plays an essential role in disseminating necessary information during a crisis. Indeed, media is considered the “most important information path” during a crisis event (Larsson, 2010, p. 716). Television, specifically, is the most common media used in times of risk and crisis in the United States (U.S.) due to its delivery of immediate information with visual aids (Heath & O’Hair, 2009). According to the Pew Research Center (2012), television remains the most popular news platform, with 55% of Americans getting their news from television and 38% getting news from a blend of offline and online news sources. While as early as 2003, 67% of organizations used their websites to communicate during a crisis (Perry, Taylor, & Doerfel, 2003), due to the growth of online usage, “corporate approaches to crisis communications have to change radically” (Gonzalez-Herrero & Smith, 2008). Public relations practitioners today must carefully design messages effective in eliciting appropriate action and work closely with traditional and online media to deliver those messages in crisis situations, especially crises that suddenly increase health risks.
This study examines a specific type of health crisis, a foodborne illness outbreak. The Salmonella egg recall of 2010 is unique and worthy of focus for a variety of reasons. First, the size and scope of the recall was extraordinary. By the time authorities felt confident in ending the recall, 550 million eggs had been recalled from 14 states (MSNBC, 2010, FDA, 2010a, FDA, 2010b), and the CDC reported 1939 cases of Salmonella poisoning were linked to the outbreak (CDC, 2010). Additionally, research on this specific case has already yielded interesting findings regarding awareness, risk perception, knowledge and self-efficacy during the recall. A study by Hallman and Cuite (2010) found that awareness of the recall did not translate into risk perception. Only 50% of individuals surveyed admitted that they had checked their homes for recalled eggs and 77% claimed the recall had not affected the way they purchased, prepared or consumed eggs. In another study, Frisby, Veil and Sellnow (2014) conducted an experiment that measured beliefs about food safety knowledge and self-efficacy regarding how to protect oneself in a foodborne outbreak using actual news clips from the egg recall as the treatment. They found that viewing the standard news coverage during the recall (coded as including information about the size and location of the recall) significantly decreased both knowledge and self-efficacy. In other words, respondents felt they knew more about food safety and were more confident in their ability to protect themselves before watching news coverage of the egg recall (Frisby et al., 2014). The current study takes a different look at Salmonella egg recall of 2010 compared to previous research addressing the outcomes of the messages, to examine the content of the messages that lead to those outcomes.
Section snippets
Literature review
Scholars suggest three message categories for crisis response: instructing information, adjusting information and reputation management (Sturges, 1994). Instructing information should focus on telling publics what they should do in order to physically protect themselves during the crisis. This information should be followed by adjusting information which should address the psychological stress resulting from uncertainty and concerns about potential harm caused during the crisis. Finally, the
Methods
This study employed mixed methods to assess the instructional messages for self-protection provided by the accountable agencies and organizations during the 2010 Salmonella egg recall and measure the frequency by which those messages were actually reported by the news media. Researchers examined official press releases and statements posted to the websites of the organizations and agencies deemed accountable for the crisis response during the 2010 Salmonella egg recall as well as the televised
Results and analysis
In its press releases, the CDC provided two of the most important messages for self-protection as outlined by the subject matter experts: wash hands and surfaces and cook eggs thoroughly. The CDC did not provide information on how to determine if a consumer had recalled eggs. The FDA press releases explained the importance of locating recalled eggs via Julian numbers and what to do with contaminated eggs. The FDA did not provide instruction for safe handling of eggs or explain what Julian
Discussion and implications
This study provides five key implications for research and practice to address the constraints of health literacy and improve messages of self-protection in a crisis. First, public relations practitioners need to convey the challenges of health literacy to the journalists covering the crisis. As Sturges (1994) states, instructional messages for self-protection must be included in the crisis response. Within the initial statement of who, what, where, when, and why, practitioners should also
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