Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol Crisis Through the PR Lens

In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. This was Johnson & Johnson’s biggest public relations crisis to date. This terrible event inevitably damaged sales of Tylonal and the company’s reputation. Today we will see how Johnson & Johnson’s PR team turned the public’s opinion, leading to a well studied case by PR professionals and still studied in school today.

The Crisis

From the company’s standpoint this was a nightmare. Before this event, Tylenol had a strong hold of 35% of the over-the-counter pain relief market, being Jphnsons & Johnsons top money maker. The death’s were due to tampering of their product, but all the pressure was on the company who faced a massive amount of public scrutiny. Customers were now scared for their safety and refused to buy the product. The downfall of this titan company seemed inevitable.

The PR Strategy

Johnson & Johnson’s decided to take the road of swift transparency with the issue.

1. Transparency Now!
   What Johnson & Johnson did really well right off the start was how open they were about the situation and the fact that they never tried to brush over the severity of the matter. They also made sure to tell the media, public, and the health authorities right away. These actions helped to build back some of the trust they lost
2. Nationwide Recall
   The tampering only happened in Chicago but the company recalled 31 million bottles of Tylenol nationwide to make sure no further harm came to their customers. This cost them over $100 million, but by expressing safety as their priority they show consumers what’s important to the company.
3. New Safety Measures
   Johnson & Johnson took steps in making sure this never happened again. They created a new standard of safety with tamper-evident packaging, revolutionizing the pharmaceutical industry. This addressed the immediate concerns of customers and prevented anything like this from happening again in the future.
4. Rebuilding Trust
   Tylenols reintroduction to the market was launched with advertisements and PR campaigns dedicated to showcasing the new safety system and the company’s priority of consumer health. These actions helped to show the public that they were doing something and being proactive rather than just apologizing which in return helped rebuild public confidence in the company.

The Outcome

We can clearly see that Johnson & Johnsons decisive actions in being transparent and creating new safety measures that revolutionized the industry saved their public image and gained back customer trust. The Tylenol case remains one of the most infamous examples of crisis management within a company showing others the importance in prioritizing customers and their safety above all else.