Even if Coke was not to blame for the illness, the high uncertainty avoidance
and power distance publics and governments in these three nations were already
predisposed to mistrust foreign organizations. Belgium, Spain, and France reacted very strongly to the Coca-Cola tainting scare. What about other Western European
nations? Did the tainting scare affect all neighboring states in the same way? It
appears that national levels of uncertainty avoidance and power distance may be
influential factors in predicting public response to the crisis. Indeed, an analysis of
Belgium’s northern neighbors shows that other nations, especially low uncertainty
avoidance and low power distance nations, reacted very differently to the tainting
scare. As a means of comparison, this case study inquired whether the 2.5 millionbottle
recall affected Belgium’s other neighbors, the Scandinavian nations.