There are rules to apologizing
It was the summer of 2008 – and it was a terrible time.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Maple Leaf Foods had confirmed the deadly truth. They issued a health alert, avoid Sure Slice brand cold cuts. They were contaminated with listeria bacteria.
Too late. Thousand were sickened, 22 died, a class action lawsuit followed.
Maple Leaf CEO Mike McCain went on TV, desperate to save his family’s business. Wearing a long sleeve dress shirt, but no tie or jacket, he looked directly into the camera.
“Listeria was found in some of our products. Even though listeria is bacteria commonly found in many foods and in the environment, we work diligently to eliminate it."
“When listeria was discovered in the product, we launched immediate recalls to get it off the shelf. Then we shut the plant down."
“Tragically, our products have been linked to illness and loss of life. To Canadians who are ill and to families that have lost loved ones, I offer my deepest sympathies. Words cannot begin to express our sadness for your pain."
“Maple Leaf foods is 23,000 people who live in a culture of food safety. We have an unwavering commitment to keep your food safe with standards well beyond regulatory requirements."
“But this week our best efforts failed, and we are deeply sorry. This is the toughest situation we’ve faced in a hundred years as a company. We know this has shaken your confidence in us."
“I commit to you that our actions are guided by putting your interests first.”
He hit all the right notes. He talked about how common the bacteria is, how many people work at the business, how old it is, what they did to fix the problem. And he said he was sorry.
The reaction was grudging approval.
• David Dunne, a marketing professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, talked to Digital Journal months after the incident.
“A lot of what they did was technically perfect. I think they’ve done as much as could be done, and it’s a real example to other companies that face crises.”
• Peter Lapinskie of the Daily Observer in Pembroke, Ont., went further.
“(McCain’s) candour at a time when his contemporaries would have scurried behind spin doctors and legal eagles was a refreshing way to address a potentially devastating mistake. I actually trust the man!”
Canadian Press named McCain its business newsmaker of 2008.
Now Justin Trudeau is trying to accomplish something similar.
An image of him wearing blackface at a party costume in 2001, when he was 29, zapped the federal election campaign. Predictably, more images followed.
Now he’s following the McCain playbook. He rushed to apologize.
“Darkening your face, regardless of the context of the circumstances is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface,” he told a reporter.
He acknowledged people live with discrimination and his actions were hurtful.
“I didn’t see that from the layers of privilege that I have and for that I am deeply sorry and I apologize.”
The key measurement of success – pending the election – is the polls. So far, his strategy seems to be working. An extremely close race is still close.
Trudeau knows the rules of apologizing, and he’s following them. We’ll see if it works soon enough.