Lai See | Where does the truth lie in McDonald's 'lack of clarity' ?

McDonald's press conference on Sunday to apologise for "its lack of clarity" should be in the playbook of every crisis management consultant. The conference was held presumably to try to boost its flagging image following its public relations missteps in its handling of the expired meat scandal surrounding Shanghai Husi Food.

First it said it wasn't using meat from the Shanghai firm in its Hong Kong outlets, and then in an as yet unexplained U-turn it said it was. Normally corporate press conferences are adorned with the company's logos and signage with the executives identified by cards bearing their names and titles.

However, at Sunday's press conference there was no corporate signage and the famous McDonald's logo was nowhere to be seen. All the attendant executives, aside from Hong Kong managing director Randy Lai Wai-sze, were anonymous without the usual identifying cards.

Interestingly the only corporate name visible during the conference was "Novotel" which was inscribed on the lectern, since the event was being held in the Novotel Century hotel in Wan Chai. This is normally covered up by the name of the company holding the press conference. Anyone watching the television footage might even have thought it was a Novotel event.

Lai apologised for not communicating well and for "a lack of clarity" by the firm that he felt may have "confused" people. However, since Lai said little more than that in the four-minute press conference, there is still a lack of clarity as to how the company could initially say no meat was used in Hong Kong outlets but then reverse this position a few days later.

There was 60 tonnes of product handed to the Hong Kong authorities, which is not inconsiderable. can imagine the company's discomfort at having to make such a U-turn. Full marks to the PR whizz that came up with the "lack of clarity" idea as an alternative to spelling out exactly why they had to do this. But it leaves us with two questions. Does McDonald's not know what's going on inside the company? Did the company lie?