It is that time of year in North Dakota. I consider it a payment for the beautiful summers. Yes, I am talking about the freezing winters that turn North Dakota into an arctic wasteland. With temperatures dropping to dangerous levels, it is a good idea to be bundled up if you are planning to be outside for any extent of time. At this point, battery powered warming gloves would sound like a good idea (if you have $260 to dish out on gloves). Well, maybe not quite so soon.
Outdoor Research has recalled "Primovolta" and "Primavolta" warming gloves. These gloves hit shelves at major outdoor specialty retailers in September. So what's the point? These gloves store energy in lithium-polymer batteries and deliver warmth for six hours at a time. This would seem like a great piece of equiptment for anyone who needs to be out in the extreme cold for extended periods of time.
Well, they definately warmed up. The firm has received five reports of gloves overheating. In one case, a female consumer suffered burns to her hands. It appears that the electric heating pads in the gloves were short circuiting, causing a burn hazard.
The gloves included in the recall are style number 77000 and style number 77010.
After this problem with the gloves is fixed and they are ready to be put back on the shelves, I imagine that Outdoor Research will need to do some public relations work so that people will gain trust in their products again.
As we talked about in Public Relations class, the public relations department that deals with this problem will have to do four things:
They will have to form an idea of their product in the minds of possible consumers. They will have to do tests to prove that their product is high quality and not defective and communicate that information to possible consumers.
They will also have to reform the ideas of the people who now think that their product is bad. I'm sure the woman who got her hands burnt by the gloves isn't thrilled to try on another pair in the future. It is the PR department's job to change her mind.
Reinforcing consumer's ideas of the product is important. This can be done by advertising. Drill your product into their minds.
These four things will motivate the consumer to action. In this case, the action would be purchasing a pair of these self warming gloves.
I don't know about you, but I cannot see myself buying a pair of $260 gloves. My hands will never have to be THAT warm.
