MGMT $12$e$,$ Ch $4$

What Would You Do$?$

Procter & Gamble Headquarters, Cincinaati, Ohio, USA. With $97,000$ employees in $80$ different countries, and

$22$ different $$1$ billion brands like Pampers diapers, Bounty paper towels, Crest toothpaste, Gillette shaving products,

Echrefe odgrelimipaters, and Ivory soap, Procter & Gamble $($P&G$)$ is the world's largest consumer products company.

P&G has been selling Tide clothing detergent, one of its most successful billion$-$dollar brands, for $74$ years. For $71$ of

those $74$ years, Tide has been the best$-$selling detergent in the United States. From Liquid Tide in $1984,$ to Tide with

Bleach in $1988,$ to Ultra Liquid Tide $($a concentrate that reduced packaging$)$ in $1992,$ and to Cold Water Tide and the

Tide to Go Stain Beleaserpens in $2005,$ product innovation has cemented Tide's N$1$ position in the market.

However, the biggest innovation occurred eight years ago with the invention of Tide Pods. Instead ofbuying separate

bottles for detergent, stain remover, and brightener, Tide Pods combine all three into one tiny liquid detergent packet per$-$

fictly sized for one load of laundry. Liquid detergent packages like Tide Pods account for roughly $25$ percent of all deter$-$

gent sales. P&G controls about $80$ percent of that market, which is worth approximately $$2$ billion a year. While detergent

sales grow about $1$ percent aysar, pod sales have grown by over $20$ percent a year since their introduction.

Unfortunately, all that success came with one significant problem. The small, multicolored Tide Pod packages with

a swirl design are often mistaken for candy by small children and elderly people with cognitive issues. After Tide Pods

came to market, the number of detergent$-$related emergency room visits for children tripled to $4,400$ per year, while

the number of detergent$-$related poison control center calls for children rose by a factor of $2\mathrm{.}5$ to an average of $10,800$

a year. Child psychologist Mariana Rlasegei says, "The tide pod, as it's designed, is an ideal product for attracting tyd$.$

dlese... the colors they tend to have,the size, the feel, the fact that they can easily fit in their hands and their mouths $-$

this is something that would be very appealing $[$to small children$]."$ While most people experience discomfort $($ranging

from vomiting, drowsiness, coughing, or temporary choking$)$ for less than $24$ hours, there are roughly $4,200$ detergent$-$

related emergency room visits a year. Ten people have died from eating Tide Pods.

Consistent with recommendations from Consumer Reports, the US Consumer Products and Safety Commission

and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention $($CDC$),$ P&G responded by switching from the clear plastic tubs

that looked like candy jars to solid$-$colored tubs with double$-$latched lids that are more difficult to open. In addition,

P&G heavily promoted education efforts to the public on using pods safely and keeping them out of reach of children

and the elderly. Those efforts led to a four$-$year decline in calls to poison control centers related to laundry detergent

packets from the peak of $12,607$ calls in $2015$ to $9,319$ calls in $2018.$

But visits to emergency rooms and calls to poison centers began rising again after the "Tide Pod Challenge" went

viral on Facebook and YouTube in $2018.$ The Tide Pod Challenge may have originated with The Onion, a well$-$known

parody website that published an article titled, $-$So Help Me God, I$\text{'}$m Going to Eat One of Those Multicolored Deter$-$

gent Pods." That was followed by College Humor $\text{'}$s "Don't Eat the Laundry Pods" video, seen by $3$ million people. The

typical Tide Pod Challenge video showed teens eating Tide Pods and then daring others to do the same. The spoed with

which the Tide Pod Challenge went viral forced P&G to quickly produce a TV ad featuring NFL fogtballelayer Rob

Groplowski, saying, $"$No$,$ no$,$ no$,$ no$,$ no$,$ no$,$ no$.$ What the heck is going on$,$ people? Use Tide Pods for washing, not

eating." YouTube and Facebook also removed Tide Pod Challenge videos from their platforms.

So$,$ with emergency room visits and poison control center calls rising again, what should P&G do$?$ Tide Pod sales

continue to grow as laundry detergent packets displace larger bottles of detergent, softeners, and stain removers.

Legally, what is P&G$\text{'}$s exposure? Is it at risk of large class$-$action losses due to lawsuits from the thousands of people

who become ill each year from eating Tide Pods? If it issued, does P&G have a solid defense argument to shield itself

from financial damages? If so$,$ what might that be$?$

Beyond potential legal issues, what is P&G$\text{'}$s obligation in terms of social responsibility? Has it handled Tide Pods

in a socially responsible way that mects society's expectations? Said another way, has it done enough to make Tide Pods

safe? Or has P&G failed in terms of social responsibility by doing less than what should be expected?

Finally, d$1.$ If you were the CEO of Procter & Gamble, what would you do$?$ Why$/$How$?$