Dasani faced two significant problems with its products in Great Britain which includes the fact that Coca-Cola launched Dasani following the same procedure as that adopted in the U.S. that is through bottling and purifying the water an aspect that attracted a huge market in the country. On the contrary, in the UK most of the bottled water sold in areas such as supermarkets and petrol stations were from precious natural spring and alpine glaciers. Dasani's water was from local tap hence most of Britain's never embraced its use. In fact, the issue was published in the daily papers immediately after it was launched giving the brand a lousy image thus marking its downfall in the UK. Secondly, the Dasani factory experienced a problem that resulted in the contamination of the processed water with minerals related to carcinogenic bromate. The issues was also broadcasted on the news platforms an aspect that forced coke to accept defeat. As a result, it withdrew all the 500,000 bottles of Dasani water that were in the market (Garrett). Arguably, this marked the end of the Dasani water in the UK despite the efforts of Coke to uphold its brand.
The conducted research outlined that consumers were of the opinion that Dasani's water was obtained from tap water a scenario they were not used to at the country. The bottled water in the UK was mainly from alpine glaciers and also precious natural spring. However, Coke misinterpreted this information and thought the public did not understand that after obtaining the water from taps it passed through a purification process before being introduced in the market. Further, the company had to efficiently ascertain the water's safety before granting people the opportunity to use it (Garrett). Ideally, people were already informed that Dasani water went through a thorough purification process though were against the idea that it was from local taps.
Following the wide coverage by the press of Coke's use of tap water, the company opted to develop a PR strategy whose core theme was to maintain the already existing good reputation of the firm, particularly in the U.S. among other countries. In the PR Coke stipulated that the bottled Dasani water was not just tapped water but instead a product that was subjected to a highly sophisticated method that facilitated the creation of the purest drink that the entire country would ever get (Garrett). According to Coke, Dasani was indeed a lifestyle drink that everyone would enjoy drinking and not feel ashamed when seen with it by the public.
In my opinion, Coke did not handle the crisis well. Arguably, this is because it was not able to adequately handle the news that were being spread by the press. In fact, the company ended up withdrawing all its bottles from the market. Indeed, this a definite indication that Coke failed in handling the crisis. The recent fake news about Dasani that Coke had to deal with was that the company had issued a recall of the water from the market since it subjected the public to health risks (The Associated Press). There existed false information that was circulating in the media that the Dasani bottles were contaminated with a parasite. The distributors of the false news even stipulated that the water had caused hundreds of people to visit the hospital with particular symptoms of illness. A company should handle fake story by revealing the truth on the aspect being criticized and clarifying every issue in a way that the public can figure out the actual truth. For instance, Coke requested the help of Food and Drug Administration which gave clear articulation that it was not aware of any disease outbreak relating to Dasani water (The Associated Press).
Works Cited
Garrett, Bill. "Coke's Water Bomb." BBC News, 16 June 2004, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3809539.stm. Accessed 2 May 2018.
The Associated Press. "Coca-Cola Not Recalling Dasani Water." The Denver Post, 24 Jan. 2017, www.denverpost.com/2017/01/24/coca-cola-not-recalling-dasani-water/. Accessed 2 May 2018.
