THE AMERICAN FAST FOOD INDUSTRY AND MAD COW DISEASE
In late 2003, an American cow was found to have bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more commonly known as mad cow disease. Until that time, the disease had been largely restricted to Europe, and considerable concern had been raised regarding the export of cows and meat that might be contaminated. No other cows have been located that have the disease--which can spread to humans in some rare cases after ingesting meat from infected animals--and the cow that was originally found to have the disease came from a Canadian herd. Nonetheless, fast food companies quickly responded to the announcement that the cow had the disease since even the perception of a tainted beef supply could cause severe upheaval in their business.
The problem that fast food companies faced was the public perception that the beef supply was tainted because of the cow found to have mad cow disease. If the public perceived that the public beef supply was infected with a potentially deadly disease, hamburger sales would plummet and the fast food companies would have a disaster on their hands. Initially, therefore, it was important that the fast food chains respond to the announcement of mad cow disease with their own statements that were designed to reassure the public that the beef supply in the United States was safe.
McDonald's took exactly this approach by issuing a statement in which it said that the situation had "no connection whatsoever to McDonald's or our suppliers" (Gibson, 2003). The statement went on to note--in glowing terms--the inspection process employed by McDonald's, and to note that the company's guidelines would prohibit such a cow from ever entering the supply chain at McDonald's. This statement, and others like it issued from the company during the days and weeks following the discovery of the mad cow disease, was designed to reassure not only customers, but investors,
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