Dairy Farmers of Canada: Hard Questions Surrounding ‘Buttergate’

Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) faced a significant public relations challenge following a February 5, 2021, social media post from a Canadian cookbook author questioning if others were also experiencing hard butter that would not soften at room temperature. Very quickly, the post received hundreds of replies in the affirmative, prompting a #Buttergate hashtag that soon spilled into mainstream national and international media coverage. The “Buttergate” controversy grew when it was speculated that the cause of the hard butter was due to the addition of palm oil to cow’s feed, with some experts highlighting the negative environmental and health impacts of palm oil. As the lobbying and promotional organization representing Canadian dairy farmers, DFC held a decades-long reputation for quality and transparency with Canadian consumers. Buttergate called this reputation into question, prompting the chief executive officer of DFC, Jacques Lefebvre, to issues a series of statements as the organization navigated the controversy, ultimately forming an expert working group to further investigate the issues that had been raised by consumers and in media reports. While everyone awaited the working group’s final report, what did DFC need to do to rebuild consumer trust in the quality of its product?

This case is suitable for courses or modules on reputation management, public relations, and communications planning at the undergraduate and graduate levels.<br><br>This case covers concepts related to crisis management and the role of transparent communication. It provides students with the opportunity to examine stakeholder relationships while analyzing the impact of social media in reputation management. The case also asks students to explore methods to rebuild trust and repair reputational damage.<br><br>By working through the case and assignment questions, students will have the opportunity to do the following:<ul><li>Understand the concept of crisis management and the impact it can have.</li><li>Understand how to improve stakeholder relationships with farmers, customers, and media outlets.</li><li>Understand the power of social media networks and online comments.</li><li>Analyze and assess how to rebuild trust and repair reputation damage.</li></ul>

• crisis communications
• stakeholder relationships
• reputation management