1982 Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol
Crisis
Brief Synopsis
In 1982, seven Tylenol consumers in
Chicago were killed after consuming a product that was laced with cyanide. The company
recalled the product to ensure safety, changed the pill form and the packaging,
and later redistributed the safer, FDA approved, product. Throughout the
crisis, the company made sure it was reaching out to customers and maintaining
their presence in the media.
PR Strategy
When
the crisis occurred, Johnson & Johnson quickly recalled 31 million capsules
from shelves across the United States, made public announcements warning customers
about the consumption of the product, and stopped advertisements for the
product. CEO James Burke held a press conference a month and a half after the
tragedy to fully explain the situation and to keep customers informed.
J&J’s quick reaction to the crisis allowed for the company to make sure
that similar problems were prevented in the future; the company reintroduced
the product with a triple-seal tamper resistant packaging that complied with
the FDA; the company switched the product from capsules (which were more prone
to tampering) to caplets; and offered customers coupons in order to get the
product selling again. The company continued to maintain a public presence in
the media to ensure the public that they were on top of the situation and were
doing all they can to avoid future incidents. Throughout the crisis, J&J knew
they were doing what was in the best interest of their customers and knew it
was the appropriate way to react.
Strategic Evaluation
I think J&J handled the situation
very well; it’s very difficult to be the center of a negative situation and
bounce back. CEO James Burke did the right thing by holding a press conference
to keep the public up to date. J&J took full responsibility and proved that
customers’ safety came first, which earned customer trust back and helped
rebuild their reputation.
Although
it is an excellent example of crisis management, there are two things that I
would have improved upon and would have done in addition to everything else.
The first would have been to hold the press conference closer to the incident,
there’s always a time element when dealing with a crisis or breaking news and
the public should be informed consistently until things have been resolved. The
second would have been to reach out to the families of the victims to offer
support and/or monetary compensation to help with the damage. By offering
compensation, it would have shown that J&J goes above and beyond for their
customers, and has compassion for what they’ve gone through because of the
tampered product.
If
the crisis had happened today, I think J&J would be well prepared to deal
with the media scrutiny, the company has proved that it can respond and act
quickly. With the technology of today and growing use of social media, J&J
could maintain a public presence by getting press releases out through Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn, and their Web Site; by making the release accessible it
allows them to be time sensitive and allows for more publicity. The public
presence doesn’t have to be limited to press releases, they could have social
media coordinators that man the sites responding to questions and inquiries,
and giving the public a chance to have one on one interactions with someone who
has information, it would help rebuild and maintain trust between the company
and the public.
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