Don’t Take the Subway.
I have never met Sean Poulter. He’s been the Daily Mail’s award wining consumer sleuth since 1989!
Awards:
2007 - London Press Club Annual Awards, Consumer Affairs Journalist of the Year (Shortlist)
2004 - London Press Club Awards, Consumer Affairs Journalist of the Year
2004 - Natural Products Awards, Consumer Education Award
I would like to meet him. I used to be in the same line of work, before turning to PR and I am impressed how time and again Sean breaks terrific stories. But occasionally my sympathy is with the PR’s who get his call. I imagine Nikki Haine, a spokesman for McKenna Townsend, (who handle PR for Subway, that garish US Sandwich chain) is feeling pretty bruised by her encounter with Sean last week. You can read the story here but the gist is that Subway have been keeping shtumm about allegedly serving up dodgy Philly Style Steak and Chicken Fajitas possibly since last Feb! Their particular Salmonella flavour is Agona* – named perhaps by someone with a sense of humour as they faced the porcelain. But I was interested by how badly Subway handled Sean, who writes:
On Wednesday, the Daily Mail asked the firm’s PR company - McKenna Townsend - whether Subway was involved in the salmonella outbreak. At the time, the company refused to admit its products were involved. On Thursday, the company issued a statement, again failing to admit its products were implicated in the outbreak. It also refused to respond to a direct question asking whether Subway products were linked. But the attempted cover-up failed yesterday when the Food Safety Authority of Ireland revealed suspect meat was supplied to Subway.
After the announcement, Subway was forced to issue a statement. - and had withdrawn batches of Philly Style Steak and Chicken Fajita. (JS asks ‘what took ‘em so long?’) A statement added: ‘The Subway chain has total confidence that its supply chain is safe and secure.’ Nikki Haine, a spokesman for McKenna Townsend, refused to say why she had attempted to keep the Subway link a secret.
How much is Ms Haine being paid to take the rap for Subway’s poisonous Philly Style Steak and Chicken Fajitas? Presumably she was just obeying orders and now she is in the Daily Mail cuttings for ever and a day accused of serving porkie pies on behalf of her client. I wonder if Sean should have named her? If she has no responsibility for the actions (or inaction) of the client, and more often than not these agency PR’s don’t, then Sean shouldn’t have ID’d her. It adds little to a cracking good story and causes immense distress to often quite junior people.
I always insist I am merely referred to as a spokesman.
* from the Greek ΑΓΩΝΑ = Champions. (?)