Milk brands begin crisis response in Southeast Asia

In Singapore, Kraft Foods, maker of Oreo cookies, took out a full-page advertisement in the Straits Times on Thursday, declaring “Safety assured”, while Nestlé bought spaces in Filipino newspapers on Wednesday assuring that the dairy products it uses come from Australia, Europe and North America.

According to Tricia Camarillo, AVP-director of business development and corporate affairs at McCann Erickson, Philippines, Nestlé has sent out an SMS message to further “blast reassuring messages of the safety of its products”.

Rajan Moses, managing director of Ogilvy Public Relations in Malaysia, said Nestlé and Fonterra have bought full-page advertisements in Malaysian newspapers “just to say they are clear”.

“There’s a lot of confusion out there,” he said, adding that the brands’ advertisements will not fully clear their names of the stigma. “If you are a brand, it takes a bit of doing to convince people that you are in fact safe. The scandal has created such a scare, and the ads are necessary steps, but it will take time actually to clear their names. But it will pass.”

However, Renuka Jaypal, managing director of Ogilvy & Mather Indonesia, said she has not seen brands take out advertisements in Indonesia.