The Ribena case study is a typical example of poor public relations and communication management. Due to their failure to implement the fundamentals, the measures used by Ribena instead led to the degradation of the brand. Any “inappropriate,” “illegal,” or “unethical” actions reduce public trust and potentially result in irreparable damage to the brand. . In such circumstances, crisis management and communication management are used as instruments to restore waning consumer confidence. In Ribena's case, the company ignored early signs of customer dissatisfaction and continued to run its advertising for an extended period of time. This is despite their similar experience with “Ribena sugartooth” in the United Kingdom, which should have served as an indication for carrying out better measures. However, such cases of mismanagement are not uncommon. In 2006, Cadbury Schweppes, the world's largest confectionery company, had to recall more than a million products poisoned with salmonella. Much like Ribena, Cadbury initially overlooked speculation about contamination which led to disapproval from media authorities and customers. (Carroll, 2009) James E. Grunig states that to eliminate customer conflicts and complaints, brands should use advertising and all the tricks of the trade to change consumer opinions. () Ribena clearly failed to establish this and continued to run misleading advertisements which ultimately affected consumer confidence. One of the major mistakes Ribena made was not communicating information symmetrically with the public. Symmetrical communications help build effective customer relationships and avoid harm to the parent company. () Leaders play a power-checking role ... middle of paper ... a small regional market can quickly damage a global reputation. A crisis like this acts as a stage for the world because during this time the world can see if the company is organized, caring and responsible for the consequences. Ribena was certainly not organized and did not take responsibility for the misleading information shared with the public through advertising and package labeling. Ribena used a scapegoating strategy whereby they tried to divert attention from themselves to another by stating that they did not have a reliable source to accurately test the product for the vitamin C content of the beverage. This statement hit back at them as they are a multinational company specializing in healthcare and pharmaceutical products. This is an important lesson that companies must consult and make judicious statements to avoid further embarrassment for the parent company..