When a dam burst in Brazil, causing a flood of wastewater to cascade out of an iron ore mine – resulting in 17 deaths and hundreds of leveled homes as well as the worst environmental disaster the country had ever seen – two public relations spokesmen illustrated the best and worst in crisis communication. The involved companies were BHP and Vale.
The former addressed the issue immediately. The latter didn’t, and cast blame on another company with which it was doing business.
The fallout from there involved protests by people who covered themselves in mud and carried pictures of dead fish.
Read the story from Insurance Journal here.