This week’s PR Roundup examines how a nationwide shredded-cheese recall put brand trust and transparency to the test, Black Friday chatter revealing just how quickly attention spikes—and disappears—in today’s media ecosystem, and Meals on Wheels delivering one of the season’s most resonant Giving Tuesday messages.
Cheese Recall Requires Sharp Crisis Comms
What happened: A full-scale cheese crisis hit grocery shelves this week after the FDA announced a sweeping recall of shredded cheese products tied to potential contamination. The issue traces back to Great Lakes Cheese, which produces private-label shredded cheeses for major retailers including Aldi, Target, Walmart, Publix and others. The recall spans millions of bags across 31 states and Puerto Rico, covering mozzarella, Italian blends, pizza blends and other shredded varieties.
The concern centers on possible metal fragments produced through a supplier’s raw materials — prompting what the FDA has classified as a Class II recall, meaning the contamination could cause injury (think dental damage or internal cuts), though long-term health risks are considered unlikely. The FDA urges consumers not to eat the affected cheese and to discard or return it.
Great Lakes Cheese’s response has been swift and detailed. The company said it learned of the supplier issue in early October, immediately quarantined the questionable raw material, halted production on impacted batches and initiated a voluntary recall. GLC says all affected products have since been removed from store shelves and that current inventory is safe. The company’s guidance to consumers is simple: toss the recalled bags or return them for a refund.
Communication takeaways: Crisis pros know that product recalls can define a brand’s reputation for years—either reinforcing trust or inflicting lasting damage. As Strategic Communications Counselor Dan Rene notes, the playbook here isn’t complicated, but it does require discipline: clarity, speed and authenticity win every time.
Rene says retailers and food brands need to move quickly with straightforward messaging that spells out exactly which products are affected, what customers should do and how the company is acting to pull and replace items.
“Zero jargon,” he says. “No defensive phrasing. When you are defensive [consumers] assume you have something to be defensive about or are hiding something.”
Rene also notes that when handled with transparency and a human tone, recall communications can actually strengthen credibility.
As he puts it, clear and careful communication is never cheesy—(dad jokes included).
Black Friday: Broadcast Sets the Narrative, but X Dominates the Moment
What happened: Did you shop on Black Friday, or did you just talk about and search Black Friday deals online?
Meltwater’s exclusive 2025 Black Friday analysis shows a record-breaking year for online and broadcast buzz. Across a two-week window, the platform tracked 3.72 million mentions and 79.2 million engagements, with conversations building steadily around November 21–22 and peaking on November 28.
Broadcast TV dominated overall coverage with a 32% share of voice, but on Black Friday itself, X (formerly Twitter) surged to 36% of all real-time mentions, reinforcing the platform’s grip on live consumer reactions. Sentiment skewed overwhelmingly positive: 36% upbeat, 5.5% negative, with Reddit (97% positive), TikTok (71%), and news outlets (63%) showcasing the majority of shoppers sharing deals, recommendations and product wins.
Communication takeaways: Meltwater Chief Strategy Officer Alexandra Saab Bjertnæs says this year’s data shows just how compressed—and high stakes—the Black Friday window has become.
“Attention surges overnight, peaks in hours, and vanishes just as quickly,” she notes.
If brands aren’t present at the exact right moment, they miss the wave entirely.
Surprisingly, broadcast continues to set expectations and shape the early narrative, but once the deals land, social becomes the real-time monitor for sentiment, virality and purchase outcomes. X, in particular, remains the place where momentum can be won—or lost—in minutes.
Bjertnæs highlights a quieter shift as well: large language models are increasingly shaping brand perception, proving that successful PR makes a real difference.
“If your brand appears in AI-generated recommendations as a result of strong GEO and SEO strategy, you’re instantly positioned as a category leader,” she says. “Because LLMs rely heavily on credible media coverage, earned media is now just as essential as SEO in building that digital authority.”
Her bottom line for PR and brand leaders? Optimize for both humans and algorithms.
“Having credible, consistent visibility early is the baseline for competing in real time,” she says.
Meals on Wheels Totes Human Connection
What happened: Meals on Wheels America cut through the Giving Tuesday asks with an affecting campaign that’s anything but traditional.
The new “Silent Night” PSA flips the familiar carol into a stark reminder of senior isolation and hunger—a reality hitting even harder this year as a government shutdown and uncertain federal funding put vital services at risk. The video, released on YouTube and Instagram, spotlights a homebound senior waiting alone—not just for a meal, but for human connection.
The organization is reminding the public—and policymakers—that Meals on Wheels is about far more than food. Each delivery provides a safety check, a friendly visit and, in many cases, the only social interaction an older adult may have all day. With one in two seniors living alone unable to afford basic needs, and winter weather amplifying isolation and malnutrition, the stakes for this year’s campaign came through clearly.
Meals on Wheels America is urging donations throughout the holiday season with the hashtag #EndTheWait for the millions of seniors who are being left behind.
Communication takeaways: The “Silent Night” campaign is both a call to action and a communications case study in emotional storytelling that meets the moment—reminding audiences that ensuring no senior is hungry or alone is a responsibility the public shares.
Kristine Templin, Chief Development and Marketing Officer at Meals on Wheels, says the campaign’s story was inspired by a heartbreaking reality that millions of older adults face each year, combined with a recognizable holiday melody.
“Our goal was to use a familiar holiday classic in an unexpected way to underscore the growing need for volunteers and funding,” Templin says. “For PR and communications professionals, it’s a reminder that storytelling works best when it starts with empathy and authentic human insight, allowing even the simplest ideas to rise above the noise.”
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.