THE TYLENOL CRISIS :

How effective public relations saved johnson & johnson

1. Hard decision they make, should they implement a nationwide recall on the
product?

Ivory question : this j&j case not only happen one time but also happened in their
talcum powder that cause cancer ovarium to many people. And after this thylenol
accident j & j already knows what they’re should do by use the “ trust “ etchic. But do
you believe if they’re really follow a farmacy standard and also human etchic?

What did j&j do?

Two the most important objectives were formulated to deal with the Tylenol crisis:
protection of customers’ health and saving the product itself. In spite of all the
financial losses the company showed willingness to help customers in the first
place

First Phase : actual handling the crisis

- The company alerted consumer accros the nation , via media , not to consume any
type of Tylenol product
- The company took the most important step in order to rehabilitate their
image: Johnson & Johnson’s “placed consumers first by recalling 31 million
bottles of Tylenol capsules from store shelves and offering replacement
product in the safer tablet form free of charge” (Rehak, 2002)
- Instead of letting horrifying news create hysteria among people, company
immediately arranged a crisis management plan, which became “an iconic
benchmark in Crisis Management” (Anand, 2012)
- J&J was not hiding from the problem but openly and freely talked about it
with the public, mass media and officials. James Burke, a chairman, is
remembered by his extraordinary decision to pull Tylenol pills off all the
shelves across the country
- Moreover, in the press conference Mr. Burke provided the full chronology
of steps undertaken to handle the crisis “only a month and a half after the
tragedy” (Rehak, 2002).
- Pull advertising for Tylenol. Recall all the bottles from the lots that were laced with
cyanide and send warning to health professionals
- J&J worked closely with media and showed care for the customers’ health
by revealing strict quality control rules. As it was written before, after the
 messages about the deaths of people, Tylenol was withdrawn from the
shelves without delay. Also, the company cooperated with the FBI, Chicago
Police and the FDA and “almost immediately posted a $100,000 reward for
the killer
-

Second Phase :

- J&J decided to save the product by revealing new secure packaging.

“Johnson & Johnson communicated their new triple safety seal packaging- a
glued box, a plastic sear over the neck of the bottle, and a foil seal over the
mouth of the bottle, with a press conference at the manufacturer’s
headquarters. Tylenol became the first product in the industry to use the new
tamper resistant packaging just 6 months after the crisis occurred” (Berge,
1990).
- J&J created tablets instead of capsules and gave special coupons for them
- The other step was targeted at reestablishing pricing system that gave
customers up to 25% off when buying the Tylenol tablets.
- More than “2250 sales people made presentations for the medical
community to restore confidence on the produc
- The company “even issued national warnings urging the public not to take
Tylenol and established a hotline for worried customers to call
- During the first week of an incident Johnson & Johnson “established a 1-
800 hot line and a toll-free line for news organizations to call and receive
pre-taped daily messages”, they could also receive frequently updated news
about the crisis
-
-

 These steps definitely increased public awareness and helped to reestablish

and rebuild Johnson & Johnson’s image. The removal of all Tylenol
products showed to the public that Johnson & Johnson company did not
want to endanger safety of their customers
 We can name different communication strategies that were used during
Tylenol’s crisis management. Sympathy and forgiveness strategies are
among them. J&J company won customers’ sympathy by showing
themselves as victims of a terrifying and unfair act. Also, by placing
customers’ health on the first place, the company won public’s sympathy.
 The whole country saw the director of the company crying at the funeral.
Forgiveness strategy aims to receive forgiveness from the public by showing
consistent steps of resolving the problem.
  The third strategy used in Tylenol campaign was rectification, which means
taking an action to prevent the repetition.
 Immediate response of the company and developing of the effective public
relations plan helped J&J rehabilitate their image.


Evaluation
While evaluating the outcomes, we can formulate several points:

1. The Tylenol campaign received a positive coverage in the media;

2. The news coverage for this crisis stands on the second place after the John F.
Kennedy assassination;
3. The FDA and Department of Health & Human Services created new set of rules
for more secure packaging;
4. Regained market share, just like before the crisis;
5. Honored with “American Corporate Conscience Award”.
The FDA not only created new set of rules but also “in 1983, the U.S. Congress
passed what was called “the Tylenol bill,” making it a federal offense to tamper
with consumer products. In 1989, the FDA established federal guidelines for
manufacturers to make all such products tamper-proof” (Markel, 2014).

“Tylenol’s success was a marketing masterpiece. J&J introduced the drug first to
doctors and hospitals, then built on its reputation as a “professional product” when
Tylenol went into the drug stores and supermarkets” (Knight, 1982). According to
approximate estimation, Johnson & Johnson spent about $170 million on saving
Tylenol. Tylenol’s campaign has no analogues in the world’s pharmaceutical
practice because, as a rule, the company withdraws the drug only by taking it from
production (for example, after the discovery of the lethal side effects).

Chicago Tylenol murders in 1982 caused the death of six people. For the company
Johnson & Johnson – the manufacturer of the drug – it meant the loss of the best-
selling brand and millions of financial losses. Most analysts predicted the death of
Tylenol. However, soon after the resolving of the crisis, Johnson & Johnson’s
costs were fully justified. By the end of 1982 Tylenol regained 25% of the U.S.
market of antipyretics and analgesics (painkillers and antipyretics). A year later,
Tylenol finally recovered from the crisis and almost reached the level of 35% -the
index it had back in the mid-1982.

The way Johnson & Johnson company was dealing with Tylenol’s crisis made a
great example of effective communication between a company and public in a
moment of crisis. Back in 1982 Tylenol was company’s best-selling product and
 still stays the market’s leader in OTC pharmaceutical, antipyretic and analgesic
products in the United States to present day. The company has put a lot of effort in
gaining and winning back public’s trust. Public relations professionals created a
coherent set of actions to recover from the crisis situation and reestablish
company’s image.

Discussion
Right after the crisis emerged and was heavily covered in media, a lot of experts
hurried on to put a period on the rescue of Tylenol production. No one actually
believed that this kind of situation can be solved positively and, moreover, in
company’s favor. People in the industry, consumers, and employers were
panicking, no one believed in the future of the product.

Jerry Della Femina often called an “advertising genius”, said following famous
words about the Tylenol poisoning: “I don’t think they can ever sell another
product under that name. There may be an advertising person who thinks he can
solve this and if they find him, I want to hire him, because then I want him to turn
our water cooler into a wine cooler.” (Knight, 1982). Fortunately, the whole
situation resolved and positive solutions were found.

Tylenol’s sales came back to their normal indexes within a year and after the
investment of $100 million for future benefits. This product again became
America’s number one choice in painkillers, while not so long ago production of
Tylenol was destined to collapse and doomed to fall. Instead, company’s brilliant
approach in dealing with the crisis situation made critics to change their minds.

Critics who had prematurely announced the death of the brand Tylenol were now
praising the company’s handling of the matter. Indeed, the Johnson & Johnson
recall became a classic case study in business schools across the nation.

Conclusion
In the conclusion I would like to mention some useful lessons and tips that needed
for every public relation practitioner.

1. Do the best you, have desire to help people;

2. A good reputation will work for a company in the future and help during a
crisis;
3. Consumers, as the public overall, are more ready to trust a company that cares
about their customers;
4. Use variety of strategies and research all the available resources;
5. Sympathy strategy outcome: both stakeholders and the company suffered in
the problem and both of these stakeholders received mutually beneficial
advantages;
6. Always be opened with the public;
7. Every crisis has hidden benefits for the company.
In my opinion, the last bullet point is one of the most important in the list because
it sets up new standards of development within the company. Everyone makes
mistakes, but the lessons retrieved from these mistakes are even more important.
According to Weinraub (2016) “true to the company credo that emphasized
primary responsibility to those who used its products, James E. Burke, chairman of
J&J’s board of directors, adopted a strategy of total transparency and a pro-active
policy to protect the health and safety of Tylenol users, regardless of the cost
involved”. Transparency strategy and willingness of Johnson & Johnson to stay
opened for public comments, concerns and questions, became really important
action steps in dealing with the following crisis situation.

Competent and coherent actions of public relations professionals played key role in
rehabilitating the Johnson &Johnson company’s image. These steps and actions
produced the respect from the customers. “Achieving genuine public trust is a high
calling for the profession” (Wilcox et.al., 2013).
Evaluation
While evaluating the outcomes, we can formulate several points:

1. The Tylenol campaign received a positive coverage in the media;

2. The news coverage for this crisis stands on the second place after the John F.
Kennedy assassination;
3. The FDA and Department of Health & Human Services created new set of rules
for more secure packaging;
4. Regained market share, just like before the crisis;
5. Honored with “American Corporate Conscience Award”.
The FDA not only created new set of rules but also “in 1983, the U.S. Congress
passed what was called “the Tylenol bill,” making it a federal offense to tamper
with consumer products. In 1989, the FDA established federal guidelines for
manufacturers to make all such products tamper-proof” (Markel, 2014).

“Tylenol’s success was a marketing masterpiece. J&J introduced the drug first to
doctors and hospitals, then built on its reputation as a “professional product” when
Tylenol went into the drug stores and supermarkets” (Knight, 1982). According to
approximate estimation, Johnson & Johnson spent about $170 million on saving
Tylenol. Tylenol’s campaign has no analogues in the world’s pharmaceutical
practice because, as a rule, the company withdraws the drug only by taking it from
production (for example, after the discovery of the lethal side effects).
Chicago Tylenol murders in 1982 caused the death of six people. For the company
Johnson & Johnson – the manufacturer of the drug – it meant the loss of the best-
selling brand and millions of financial losses. Most analysts predicted the death of
Tylenol. However, soon after the resolving of the crisis, Johnson & Johnson’s
costs were fully justified. By the end of 1982 Tylenol regained 25% of the U.S.
market of antipyretics and analgesics (painkillers and antipyretics). A year later,
Tylenol finally recovered from the crisis and almost reached the level of 35% -the
index it had back in the mid-1982.

The way Johnson & Johnson company was dealing with Tylenol’s crisis made a
great example of effective communication between a company and public in a
moment of crisis. Back in 1982 Tylenol was company’s best-selling product and
still stays the market’s leader in OTC pharmaceutical, antipyretic and analgesic
products in the United States to present day. The company has put a lot of effort in
gaining and winning back public’s trust. Public relations professionals created a
coherent set of actions to recover from the crisis situation and reestablish
company’s image.

Discussion
Right after the crisis emerged and was heavily covered in media, a lot of experts
hurried on to put a period on the rescue of Tylenol production. No one actually
believed that this kind of situation can be solved positively and, moreover, in
company’s favor. People in the industry, consumers, and employers were
panicking, no one believed in the future of the product.

Jerry Della Femina often called an “advertising genius”, said following famous
words about the Tylenol poisoning: “I don’t think they can ever sell another
product under that name. There may be an advertising person who thinks he can
solve this and if they find him, I want to hire him, because then I want him to turn
our water cooler into a wine cooler.” (Knight, 1982). Fortunately, the whole
situation resolved and positive solutions were found.

Tylenol’s sales came back to their normal indexes within a year and after the
investment of $100 million for future benefits. This product again became
America’s number one choice in painkillers, while not so long ago production of
Tylenol was destined to collapse and doomed to fall. Instead, company’s brilliant
approach in dealing with the crisis situation made critics to change their minds.

Critics who had prematurely announced the death of the brand Tylenol were now
praising the company’s handling of the matter. Indeed, the Johnson & Johnson
recall became a classic case study in business schools across the nation.
 Conclusion
In the conclusion I would like to mention some useful lessons and tips that needed
for every public relation practitioner.

1. Do the best you, have desire to help people;

2. A good reputation will work for a company in the future and help during a
crisis;
3. Consumers, as the public overall, are more ready to trust a company that cares
about their customers;
4. Use variety of strategies and research all the available resources;
5. Sympathy strategy outcome: both stakeholders and the company suffered in
the problem and both of these stakeholders received mutually beneficial
advantages;
6. Always be opened with the public;
7. Every crisis has hidden benefits for the company.
In my opinion, the last bullet point is one of the most important in the list because
it sets up new standards of development within the company. Everyone makes
mistakes, but the lessons retrieved from these mistakes are even more important.
According to Weinraub (2016) “true to the company credo that emphasized
primary responsibility to those who used its products, James E. Burke, chairman of
J&J’s board of directors, adopted a strategy of total transparency and a pro-active
policy to protect the health and safety of Tylenol users, regardless of the cost
involved”. Transparency strategy and willingness of Johnson & Johnson to stay
opened for public comments, concerns and questions, became really important
action steps in dealing with the following crisis situation.

Competent and coherent actions of public relations professionals played key role in
rehabilitating the Johnson &Johnson company’s image. These steps and actions
produced the respect from the customers. “Achieving genuine public trust is a high
calling for the profession” (Wilcox et.al., 2013).