Tylenol Nightmare

In 1982 Tylenol faced a public relations nightmare, some laced some of the capsules with cyanide and as a result 7 people died in the Chicago area. Johnson and Johnson the company that manufactures Tylenol pulled all of their product off the shelves nation wide. While this costs the company in excess of 50 million dollars it was the only ethical action to take. When human lives are at stake money can not even be a consideration, and Johnson and Johnson showed this compassion for their customers by pulling the product at a detrimental cost for the company.

While this problem was not caused by any negligent action of the company, and the crime still to this day remains unsolved it was a nightmare for Johnson and Johnson. The problem was someone had tampered with the product, as a result of this horrible and crime Johnson and Johnson became a pioneer in the tamper resistant bottles that Tylenol came in. As a result even the Federal Government’s department of Food and Drug Administration tightened the regulations on tamper resistant bottles.

While this incident gained national attention it had several different publics involved. The consumer that actually had Tylenol in their home and had consumed it, the customers that lived in the Chicago area, the general population of the greater Chicago area who did not consume Tylenol on a regular basis; and of course every employee that worked where Tylenol was manufactured. At the time every employee was a potential suspect. While this was a huge public relations issued for Johnson and Johnson more importantly it was a humanitarian issue for the general public, as innocent lives where lost.

The message that Johnson and Johnson sent to the public, was an alarming message. The company encouraged customer’s nation wide to throw away any Tylenol they might have in their homes. The company replaced the product for any customers who threw away Tylenol. I feel that the company took the only ethical action available to them at the time. It was unknown how many of the bottles had been tampered with and to this day we don’t know how many innocent lives were saved by the message sent from the company to the general public.

At the time during which this occurred, the early 1980’s, the message from the company could not have been anymore effective. Public relations can often encompass turning a negative event into positive event. While nothing about the loss of seven innocent lives could be turned into anything near positive, the company’s quick and decisive action after the fact is what made the difference. I think this could have had a horribly negative effect on the company had it been handled different. If the company would have tried to hide what was going on, it might very well been the end of Tylenol.

One of the most important communications tools that Tylenol utilized what the perception that the public mattered. Johnson and Johnson’s Cedo includes the phrase “the first responsibility is to the customer.” Johnson and Johnson certainly stood behind this saying during