The First 24 Hours: A Product Recall Crisis Simulation

Marketing Academy · Field Work●PR & Communications

All projects·From: PR 101: What Public Relations Actually Is

CoreSimulation· 45 minutes

Honasa Consumer (Mamaearth)

Objective: Navigate the first 24 hours after a product-safety complaint goes viral, choosing a public response at each checkpoint and seeing how that choice compounds the story's trajectory, the speed-and-honesty tradeoff crisis communications is built on.

You are the head of communications at Honasa Consumer (Mamaearth) when a customer's viral video claims one of your baby-care products caused a skin reaction. It hits 500,000 views in six hours.

Make a call at each checkpoint, in order: whether to speak before you have full facts, what you say once you have them, and how you close the loop, then see the outcome your choice produced.

Before you start

What you'll need

Free path (everything below is enough to finish)

Google Docs

FreeDraft each public statement before it goes out

Free, supports fast collaborative editing under time pressure

The process

Simulation

Hour 1: The video is trending

1 hour

A viral video with 500K views claims your baby lotion caused a rash. Three journalists have DMed your official account asking for comment. Your internal safety review hasn't started yet.

Sample output

Video: 500K views, 12K shares, comments trending negative. 3 journalist DMs unanswered. Internal safety review: not started.

Spend to date:$0

Budget remaining:$0 (this crisis costs time, not ad spend)

What do you do in hour one, before the safety review has any findings?

Final deliverable

A three-checkpoint crisis response log documenting the public statement drafted at each stage and the reasoning behind each call.

See a reference example

Sample output

Zomato comms desk, crisis response log (excerpt)

HOUR 1 — Acknowledgment posted:
  'We've seen the reports circulating and take them seriously. Our safety team is investigating now, we'll share findings as soon as we have them.'

HOUR 6 — Recall statement posted:
  'Our review identified an issue with batch #4471. We are recalling all units from that batch effective immediately and offering full refunds. Full details and refund process: [link].'

HOUR 24 — Closing update posted:
  'The batch #4471 recall is now complete. We've adjusted our quality-check process at that stage of production to prevent a repeat. Thank you for your patience.'

Success criteria

You're done when you can:

Chooses to acknowledge publicly within the first hour rather than staying silent or denying
Announces the full recall, with specifics, once the safety review confirms a defect
Closes the loop with a public follow-up rather than letting the story end unresolved