Week 6 BOC: Tylenol Scare 1982

In the year 1982, Tylenol had a major crisis.  Eight people in the Chicago area have died from Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules.  The findings were that the Tylenol capsules were laced with 65 milligrams of cyanide, which is 10,000 times more poison needed to kill somebody.  In 1982, Tylenol controlled 37 percent of its market with revenue of about $1.2 million.  This caused a nationwide panic.

Johnson & Johnson were faced with a dilemma.  They needed to figure out the best way to deal with the tampering’s and not to destroy the Tylenol brand.  "I don't think they can ever sell another product under that name," advertising genius Jerry Della Femina.

Johnson & Johnson immediately alerted consumers nationwide to not take any type of Tylenol products.  They stopped advertising and stopped production for Tylenol capsules.  31 million bottles of Tylenol were put into recall with a retail value of 100 million dollars, 31 million bottles of Tylenol.

Johnson & Johnson was praised by the media for not putting themselves first.  An article by Jerry Knight, published in The Washington Post on October 11, 1982, said, "Johnson & Johnson has effectively demonstrated how a major business ought to handle a disaster."

The “Come Back”:  Because of Tylenol being a huge money maker for Johnson & Johnson, the company needed extensive marketing and promotional program to bring the product back.  Tylenol Capsules were reintroduced with a new triple seal tamper resistant packaging.  The products provided a $2.50- off coupon that were good for Tylenol products.  A pricing program was put into place that gave customers discounts as high as 25%.   Over 2250 sales people made presentations for the medical community to restore confidence on the product.   Tylenol also had positive mentions in The New York Times and Adverting Age magazine. 

The first important decision, that put Johnson & Johnson's public relations program in the right direction, was made immediately by the public relations department with complete support from the management. This was clearly important.  By creating a public relations program that both protected the public interest and that was given full support by media institutions in Johnson & Johnson was able to recover quickly from possibly the greatest crisis ever to hit the pharmaceutical industry.

 

http://www.aerobiologicalengineering.com/wxk116/TylenolMurders/crisis.html

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall02/susi/tylenol.htm

http://crisiscomm.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/case-study-tylenol-poisonings/