Case Study: BBB Company

BBB Case Study
Name
Institution
BBC Case Study
Even though modifying the “Highbrid” drink to create the new “Totaled” drink led to the massive success of the BBB Company, this modification was generally not a good idea considering the effects it had on the consumers. In one of their meetings the four BBB founders agreed that their business was started purposefully to produce drinks that encouraged people to have fun but not to cause them harm (Greyser & Ellet). Evidently, their “Totaled” drink achieved much of the opposite because of its high alcohol content and from the fact that it had an increased percentage of caffeinated energy drink that was higher than that in the products of their competitors. The new drink was not a good idea because it led to excessive inebriated behavior since it caused the users to black out in whatever place they were including at home, in their yards, in parking lots and in malls. In other cases, people passed out from drinking Totaled while others engaged in aggressive driving that contributed to accidents. For example, the excessive drinking of Totaled was linked to the killing of five people in a case where the drivers were driving while intoxicated from drinking Totaled. The increased popularity of the drink also led to binge drinking amongst many young people that resulted to risky behavior. For instance, a good number of consumers were reported to engage in unprotected and unwanted sex after consuming the Totaled drink. Sexual assault in colleges and universities were also linked to people consuming caffeinated alcoholic beverages and the same drink was associated with the increased alcohol-related injuries. The most devastating effect was that media reports were tying Totaled binging to contributing to various deaths. Generally, BBB’s modification of their Highbrid drink to create the Totaled drink attracted negative media attention because of all the mentioned negative effects. Since their product was a caffeinated alcohol drink, doctors, parents and the critical media all condemned it in an effort that attracted the attention of public health agencies at the state and federal levels. Another negative effect on the company was that the sales of the BBB products started to be banned in some states, which threatened the future of the company.
As a communication and conflict management expert, there are several things I would do in order to prevent the FDA from issuing a warning letter to BBB. To begin with, I would advise the company to consider reducing the alcohol content in their beverages. Considering that Totaled had a higher percentage of alcohol as compared to other companies, it would make sense to reduce its content so that the FDA will not use this against the company in the court. Another preventive measure would be to reduce the percentage of the caffeine content in the drink’s formulation or the total removal of the caffeine. This measure is viable especially since the presence of caffeine in alcoholic beverages has been associated with masking or hiding the real effects of alcohol as a depressant and this can cause consumers to assume that they are sober just because they are alert from the caffeine (G...