China begins PR drive after spate of recalls

Hoffenberg pointed to Johnson & Johnson’s response to the fatal 1982 Tylenol tampering scare, widely seen as a model for how best to cope with disasters. The company’s chief executive appeared on television early in the crisis and it recalled millions of bottles of pain-reliever tablets and introduced tamperproof packaging. Tylenol emerged with a reputation for safety and reliability.

“Just being quick to respond isn’t the only thing. It has to have a real foundation for change,” Hoffenberg said. “Consumers do forget easily sometimes, but only when they’re comfortable.”

It isn’t clear whether Beijing has turned to outside public relations firms for help in crisis management. The Foreign Ministry said it had no such arrangements, while the Commerce Ministry and the cabinet press office did not respond to questions. Foreign firms including Hill & Knowlton, Ogily & Mather, APCO and Manning Selvage & Lee contacted Friday said they had not been hired.

President Hu Jintao’s government has a history of overhauling portions of its bureaucracy in response to crises that have made waves for China abroad.

Beijing shook up its public health system and created a nationwide disease-monitoring network after criticism of its sluggish response to the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Since the first product safety cases emerged in early May, China has tried to show its responsiveness by publicizing the closure of substandard food processing plants, a ban on unproven medications and the seizure of fake blood protein in hospitals.

The tempo picked up this week. The government banned the use of diethylene glycol in toothpaste after U.S. authorities seized thousands of tubes tainted with the chemical, used in antifreeze. Thousands of small food processing plants were warned they would be shut down if they fail to meet hygiene standards. Authorities announced a special food inspection system for 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

On Tuesday, the government took its most drastic step yet, executing Zheng Xiaoyu, a former director of the State Food and Drug Administration, on charges that he took bribes to approve untested medicines.

Zheng’s case was unrelated to the latest scandals. But his arrest in 2005 followed a string of fatalities blamed on improperly tested drugs, including an antibiotic that killed 10 patients. The government launched a review of 170,000 drug licenses granted while Zheng was regulator.

“China can’t expect an overnight change, no matter how they react,” Hoffenberg said. And as for foreign consumers, he said, “it’s yet to be seen whether executing somebody is a positive or a negative.”

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