Cadbury Worm Controversy

The company upped ad spends for the Jan-March quarter by over 15 per cent. The recovery began in May 2004, and by June, Cadbury’s claimed that consumer confidence was back. These experts believe that the reason for Cadbury’s success was that it took crisis head-on. And the consumers were more forgiving, because the brand enjoyed an emotional equity in India.

    OBJECTIVES

·        Infestation could never occur at the manufacturing stage.

·        The problem was storage linked

·        Cadbury dairy milk continued to be safe for consumption.

·        Let its brand and its performance speak for it.

·        Regaining product trust.

·        Restoring the company’s image and reputation.

·        Increasing sales levels to heat they once were.

·        Cadbury dairy milk continued to be safe for consumption.

·        The problem was storage linked this without alienating trade channels.

Remedy for the Worm Controversy

·        A focused and intense communications program was implemented over the next six months to rebuild credibility and restore confidence among the key stakeholders. The results:

·        In media, the key message that infestation was a storage-linked problem, not manufacturing related, found widespread acceptance. Across the board, media carried Cadbury’s point-of-view on the issue.

·        Sales volumes climbed back to almost to pre-crisis levels eight weeks after the launch of new packaging – a concrete step taken by the company to minimize the incidence of infestation. This reflected consumer confidence in the brand and the company.

·        There was significant upward movement in ratings amongst consumers on parameters like company’s image, responsiveness of company and behavioural parameters like intention to buy Cadbury chocolates.

·        The last two helped to restore faith in the corporate brand among the trade and employees.

Problems faced by Cadbury:

When these worms were found in some of the dairy milk bars, Maharashtra food and drugs administration responded quickly to this case and seized the stocks of chocolate bars which were manufactured in Pune plant.