English for Public Relations – Press release analysis Lee Sin Ming 09369162D This is an analysis of a press release issued by Mengniu Diary Company Limited in 2008 in Hong Kong. The first part is about the newsworthiness of the release while the promotional elements adopted together with their effectiveness were the focuses in the second part. The discussion begins with the release’s structure, which could be easily recognized as a headline (line 1-2) directly followed by an introduction (paragraph 1) and 8 satellites (the remaining 8 paragraphs). To draw readers’ attention, the headline spelt out the main message, i.e. Mengniu’s actions to assure product safety, of which more details like the money spent, time and aims were provided in the introduction to further satisfy the reader’s curiosity and attract them to continue their reading. The newsworthiness of the release could be identified by its high prominence, important consequence, great proximity, current timeliness and human interest values. The release was about the quality control actions of Mengniu, which is a prominent diary product manufacturer in China (44) listed in Hong Kong (3). The release made the relationship between the company’s quality assurance and consumers’ health explicit (9), drawing reader’s attention by relating the message with them directly. The topic also imposed impact on the public’s confidence in the brand and thus its share price. The release further made its local importance more salient by indicating that Mengniu’s products with approved quality were available in Hong Kong (paragraphs 6 & 7). Most importantly, the release was issued in October 2008,just 3 months after the milk scandal broke out in mainland China with 3 babies killed and dozens poisoned, when the public were very sensitive to any news regarding the safety of diary products. People were interested in knowing how the famous Mengniu reacted to the crisis. Therefore, since the release was about the well-known company that has significant impact on the local society with a lot of factual and technological supporting information, it successfully aroused readers’ interest and was worth to be issued. The ultimate goal of this release was to promote the safety of Mengniu’s products with its effective quality control. The following discussion is about how it was achieved with various promotional language elements, which are favorable to the main idea while they can be deleted without affecting the interpretation of the
message or replaced to neutralize the tone, throughout the release. Numeral data together with intensifiers of numerals and intensifying quantifiers were frequently used to make the text more objective and persuasive. For instance, the implementation cost and the number of staff were mentioned, to reflect how seriously Mengniu treated this issue. With intensifiers ‘approximately’ (4) and ‘more than’ (13), these figures gave a stronger feeling than quoting the exact values. Intensifiers ‘tops the list of 300’ (10) and ‘a variety of’ highlighted how representative and comprehensive the inspection institutes and tests were. ‘One of the leading…’ (44) revealed Mengniu’s prominence. To emphasis how strict the inspection was, intensifying quantifiers were adopted, such as ‘all’ (8, 31, 37) and ‘each batch of’ (26) for the products, ‘all’ for the staff (28) and ‘every’ for the cow (21) involved, and ‘no’ for melamine found (32). ‘Extra’ (35) intensified the additional concern of the brand towards the Hong Kong market to align local readers. Premodifiers ‘three-tier’, ‘state-level’ and ‘third-party’ were used to describe the monitory regime and institutes, pointing out the reliability of the quality assurance. Meanwhile, intensifying adverbs, including ‘closely’ monitor (14), ‘directly’ managed (20) and ‘specially’ engaged (36), were used to indicate how carefully Mengniu carried out their well-organized inspection. Finally, the release expressed Mengniu’s good wish in its future development
Appendix [FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]
MENGNIU ENGAGES NATIONAL INSPECTION INSTITUE ***
OPTIMIZES MONITORY OF RAW MILK QUALITY TO ASSURE PRODUCT SAFETY (Hong Kong – 8 October 2008) - China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited, ("Mengniu") (HKSE stock code: 2319), announced that it had invested approximately RMB80 million in melamine testing equipment to step up tests on melamine and had adopted a “three-tier” monitory regime. In addition to strengthening control on raw milk sources and conducting stringent tests on products before they leave the production plants, Mengniu has engaged the state-level authoritative testing institutes to conduct third-party melamine tests on its finished products, to ensure all of its products in the market are safe for consumption, safeguarding consumers' health. The Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine (“CAIQ”), which tops the list of 300 Chinese Government's approved testing institutes, is primarily responsible for conducting independent tests on Mengniu’s products. With the aim of enhancing control on the quality of raw milk, Mengniu has posted more than 8,000 staff members at milk collection centers to closely monitor the on-site operation of milk collectors, collection centers and delivery to its plants throughout the processes round-the-clock. The stringent monitory mechanism is aimed at ridding opportunity of deceit at milk sources. The raw milk going into Mengniu’s plants has to pass a variety of stringent testings including for melamine before it can go into the storage tanks for subsequent processing which is carried out in a completely sealed
and sterilized condition controlled by an advanced centralized operation system. Furthermore, at the Mengniu AustAsia International Ranch in Inner Mongolia directly managed by Mengniu itself, every milk cow is tagged with an electronic card to facilitate keeping of milking record. The electronic system also contains details like the health conditions, place of origin, breed and age of the cows to enable real-time raw milk monitoring and prompt detection of problems for remedial actions. ~ cont’~China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited 8 October 2008 / P. 2 At the 23 production plants of Mengniu, inspection staffs work on shifts 24 hours a day undertaking stringent tests on raw milk, supplemental ingredients and finished products. Each batch of products must be tested for compliance with strict standards by staff from the inspection department on-site before it can leave the plants. During the National Day vacation period, all the inspection staff of Mengniu and independent testing institutes remained on duty to ensure safety of Mengniu’s products sold in the market. To date, all the 16 types of Mengniu products sold in Hong Kong through Mengniu’s appointed distributors have been tested by the Centre for Food Safety in Hong Kong and no melamine has been found. The government authorities on both sides of the border have already stepped up testing for melamine in milk products. To give extra assurance to Hong Kong consumers, Mengniu has specially engaged an authoritative local testing institute recognized by the Centre for Food Safety in Hong Kong to conduct melamine testing again for all products of Mengniu for Hong Kong once they arrive in the territory. Only after they have passed the test will they be sold in Hong Kong. In the future, Mengniu will strengthen prevention and screening measures. Adhering to its principle of establishing Mengniu a trustworthy enterprise, it will continue to make full efforts to assure high product quality and ensure the health and safety of
consumers. ~end~ ABOUT CHINA MENGNIU DAIRY COMPANY LIMITED: China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited and its subsidiaries manufacture and distribute quality dairy products in China, including Hong Kong and Macau. It is one of the leading dairy product manufacturers in China, with MENGNIU as its core brand. The Group’s diversified products range include liquid milk products, such as UHT milk, milk beverages and yogurt, ice cream and other dairy products such as milk powder. In June 2008, the Group further expanded its production capacity and operated a total of 23 production bases with an annual production capacity of 5.5 million tons. For more details of the Group, please kindly visit www.mengniuir.com. For Enquiries: China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited Chris Kwok Tel: +852 2180 9052 Email: mengniu_ir@mengniu.com.cn Strategic Financial Relations (China) Limited Anita Cheung Tel: +852 2864 4827/9100 9002 Email: anita.cheung@sprg.com.hk Esther Lau Tel: +852 2864 4845/9196 0033 Email: esther.lau@sprg.com.hk Anna Luk Tel: +852 2864 4877/6184 0181 Email: anna.luk@sprg.com.hk Katie Kung Tel: +852 2864 4830/6132 1847 Email: katie.kung@sprg.com.hk