Online discussions over trans fat enable lawsuit against food giant.
Online word-of-mouth has so much influence that is has turned a controversial lawsuit against a major food corporation into a one of the most noted food industry crises, a study has found.
When a consumer advocacy group filed a lawsuit last May against Kraft over its use of partially hydrogenated oils, or trans fat, in Oreo cookies, chaos erupted across consumer online discussions, says Buzz Metrics, a research firm that uses online consumer dialogue to explore market insight.
Discussion of the Ban Trans Fats lawsuit spurred more than 2.6 million comments from more than 120,000 consumers, causing the total number of online discussions to jump more than eightfold in the same month. While the discussions eventually decreased, they remained above normal through the end of 2003. Data show that average length of online conversations about trans fats jumped 50 percent after the lawsuit from 11 comments per conversation to 17, stemming from more in-depth discussions and distress.
"The controversy over trans fats is a seminal case of the dramatic role that online communities and their influential participants play during industry crises," says Jonathan Carson, president and CEO of BuzzMetrics. "Online word-of-mouth enabled a lawsuit against one company to shift into a major food-industry policy and public relations crisis, with erratic targeting of numerous other companies. Not surprisingly, much of the consumer-generated information and targeting was misinformed or false. It will be interesting to see what other companies will be drawn into the fray as the new trans fats lawsuit against McDonald's heats up."
The report found that Kraft and Oreo brands were mentioned with 17 percent and 26 percent of trans fats mentions, putting it at the focus of the online trans fats discussions. Other companies and food brands were discussed and forced into broader discussion: McDonald's was mentioned in 8 percent of trans fats discussions; Doritos 16 percent; Crisco 16 percent; and Skippy 8 percent. Generic food categories were also mentioned in association with the trans fats controversy: baked goods and cookies 32 percent; margarine 21 percent; fast food 13 percent; and peanut butter 10 percent.
"The trans fats crisis demonstrates why companies in any industry must not disregard their vocal online constituents, but rather embrace them and proactively manage communications," Carson says.