|
  |
|
|
Tylenol And Their Great Communication With The Consumer = Success Public Relations
What Was The Basis For The Crisis
The basis for the Tylenol crisis was that 7 people died mysteriously, later authorities determined the cause as extra-strength Tylenol that was laced with cyanide. The bottles had come from four different plants and was only concluded that the bottles were individually tampered with at stores. The bottles that were found laced with cyanide contained 65 milligrams of cyanide (that is 10,000 the amount needed to kill a human which is 5-7 micrograms).
Policy Decisions That Led To The Crisis
There seems to be no evidence that there were changes in policy that led to this crisis. Throughout the 1980’s product tampering had become a new problem. It seems that there was actually a lack of policy that could be to blame. Before this crisis and the implementation of tamper-resistant seals and safety regulations, most over-the-counter medications sat in open aisles. Most bottles had a simple screw-on lid that could be easily opened. Some medications were packed with cotton but still just as easy to tamper with. The fact that the contaminated pills were in bottles that were distributed from different manufacturing locations ruled out the idea that this was an inside job. Its publicity did bring to light a flaw in the manufacturing process and necessary changes needed to keep consumers safe. Before the crisis Tylenol did not have tamper free bottles but once this tampering occurred Tylenol instituted a triple-tamper resistant bottle (Hogue, J.). This allowed for the consumer to be aware if one of the seals was broken. Their crisis management plan would not have been fit to handle the Tylenol poisoning since it couldn’t prepare for such a massive catastrophe (Foster, L)
How Was The Crisis Managed
The first phase was to put customer safety first, before they worried about their companies profit and other financial concerns. Via the media the company immediately alerted consumers across the nation not to consume any type of Tylenol product and not to resume using the product until the extent of the tampering could be determined. Along with stopping the production and advertising of Tylenol, they recalled all Tylenol capsules from the market. Also, Johnson & Johnson established relations with the Chicago Police, FBI, and the Food and Drug Administration so that they could have a part in searching for the person who laced the capsules and help prevent further tampering. The final step of Phase One of the public relations plan, the company offered to exchange all Tylenol capsules that had already been purchased by consumers. (Paul Griffin Communications n.d. p. 2)
The Phase Two public relations plan or the "comeback" was to attempt to restore Tylenol to its preeminent position. Tylenol capsules were reintroduced in November baring a new triple-seal tamper-resistant packaging. Finally, over 2250 sales people from Johnson & Johnson were asked to make presentations to people in the medical community to promote support for the reintroduction of Tylenol. Johnson & Johnson was able to recover quickly and painlessly from possibly the greatest crisis ever to hit the pharmaceutical industry by creating a public relations program that both protected the public interest and was given full support by media institutions in the US. (Paul Griffin Communications n.d. p. 4 & 6)
How Was The Crisis Resolved
The crisis was resolved by stopping production and advertising of Tylenol Also recalling all Tylenol capsules from the market and exchanging all Tylenol capsules that had already been purchased by consumers with Tylenol tablets. Tylenol capsules were reintroduced in November baring a new triple-seal tamper-resistant packaging in accordance with the new regulations and the national mandate for tamper-resistant packaging by the Food and Drug Administration. (Paul Griffin Communication n.d.)
What Were The Short Term Effects
Many people doubted that J&J would be able to recover from the damage of the poisoning. “Many marketing experts thought that Tylenol was doomed by doubts that the public may have had to whether or not the product was safe.” I don't think they can ever sell another product under that name," advertising genius Jerry Della Femina told the New York Times”. {http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/tylenol/crisis.html}
J&J took many steps to fixing this tragic and fatal incident. They pulled 31 million bottles of Tylenol worth a retail value over $100 million. “The company offered to exchange all Tylenol capsules that had already been purchased for Tylenol tablets. It was estimated that millions of bottles of Tylenol capsules were in consumers homes at the time. Although this proposition cost Johnson & Johnson millions more dollars, and there may not have been a single drop of cyanide in any of the capsules they replaced, the company made this choice on their own initiative in order to preserve their reputation. (Knight, 2) To advocate the use of Tylenol, McNeil Consumer Products provided $2.50-off coupons that were good towards the purchase of any Tylenol product. This offer was also made in November and December through popular newspapers where the $2.50 coupon was printed with discounts as high as 25 percent. A totally new advertising campaign was put in the works. The new advertising program was launched in 1983. (Johnson & Johnson)” {http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/tylenol/crisis.html}
What Were The Long Term Effects
Since the Tylenol crisis of 1982, Johnson & Johnson has suffered very little. There seems to be minimal long-term effects. According to one article, “The Company acted quickly to remove product from the shelves and came back into the marketplace with a tamper-proof pack. There was evidence that consumers even switched over to the brand because of the safety precautions. In 2000, Johnson & Johnson was ranked number one in a major survey of reputations of American corporations” (http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/default.asp?task=read&id=3306&site=GN). In essence, the company took a crisis and turned it into something positive which demanded even more respect prior to the incident.
Johnson & Johnson has a great team to manage the crisis. Because of this the long term effects of the crisis mostly benefited the company. The only negative effects of the crisis occurred within the initial months that followed. The company went above and beyond to the call of duty which earned the respect of their previous consumers. They even increased the number of consumers that bought their products with the triple safety bottles they put on the shelf in replace of the old product. One website had a comment on the Tylenol crisis of 1982:
Consensus: What Can Be Done To Prevent This In The Future
The company has already made a major step to prevent this from happening in the future by having the new triple-seal tamper-resistant packaging, which is a National Mandate now. Although Tylenol acted promptly and made a tremendous comeback, when the crisis occurred they weren’t prepared for such a catastrophe. One step that could be taken to prevent future crisis is to have a Crisis Management System in place. Have proactive crisis management activities to include forecasting potential crises and planning how to deal with them. (Crisis Management n.d.) Identify worst-case scenarios the company might face and prepare for them with the help of outside experts who can provide candid feedback on potential scenarios, and responses to them. Determine how key decision-makers would communicate quickly so they could be informed and make a joint decision. Who outside the organization should be contacted first to be informed of the organization’s stance and action? (Pertinent Information n.d.) It is essential for companies to plan ahead because time is at a premium during a crisis. Not being prepared is not worth the risk - to executives or the companies they work for. Many companies have recognized this and have in place a crisis communication plan that outlines the steps to be taken during the first few hours of a crisis indicating the who, what, when, where and how the company should deal with the crises. The best plans produce many of the materials necessary ahead of time, including initial official statements, press releases, fact sheets and backgrounders so that the missing information simply must be inserted and the materials are ready to go. (What is Crisis Management n.d.)
Discussion Of Two Principles Used By Tylenol
Responsibility - This principle was employed by the Tylenol Company. Responsibility is a good concept for managing due to the fact that taking responsibility develops a trust and/or respect for the person by those watching or otherwise aware of the situation instead of that person "passing the buck". The Tylenol Company took responsibility for this crisis even though the cause was not their own by recalling nationwide an estimated 31 million bottles in circulation of their product that equaled over 100 million dollars in sales. The company also distributed warnings to hospitals and distributors to halt all production and advertising as well as advertised on national media not to consume any products containing Tylenol. Last the Tylenol company offered to exchange all capsules for solid tablets after the cause of the crisis was discovered (that only capsules were being replaced with cyanide).
Challenge - The Tylenol crisis was a huge challenge in which the fight or flight response was sure to over-come all in the leadership of the Tylenol company. The challenge was incredible and if the company had not decided to stay and fight the crisis changes may not have been made to the way our products are now packaged and Tylenol as well as Johnson & Johnson may not have continued to exist in the business world.
They immediately warned people of the danger, putting customer safety first before worrying about their companies profit and other financial concerns. (Paul Griffin Communication n.d.)
A technique that Tylenol used was to take advantage of the Media to get their message out quickly. Also, along with the immediate nationwide alert and the Tylenol recall, Johnson & Johnson established relations with the Chicago Police, the FBI, and the Food and Drug Administration so that they could be involved in searching for the person who laced the capsules. These techniques are consistent with the principles we selected in that when they were presented with this crisis, they faced it immediately putting public safety first before thinking of financial consequences. Also, they acted on the public relations plan written in the mid-1940’s by the company’s leader for 50 years. Robert Wood Johnson saw business as having responsibilities to society that went beyond the usual sales and profit incentives. He outlined his company’s responsibilities to “consumers and medical professionals using its products, employees, the communities where its people work and live, and its stockholders.” He felt this was not only moral, but profitable in the long run. (Paul Griffin Communication n.d.)
References
http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/default.asp?task=read&id=3306&site=GN
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/trainingworld/message/2
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/tylenol/crisis.html
Paul Griffin Communication, Corporate Communications Counsel, Kaplan, T., The Pennsylvania State University (n.d.) Retrieved on 10/22/06 from http://www.grif.com.au/index.php?id=79 |
|
 |
|
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
The copyright for this content entitled " Tylenol And Their Great Communication With The Consumer = Success Public Relations" has been specified by the contributor as:
All Rights Reserved
This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
|
|
|
This intel was contributed by D. STEVENS
D. STEVENS
|
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
