Tylenol Case Study

Johnson & Johnson recognized the issue with the Tylenol crisis was a severe crisis situation because of the six deaths that occurred from using Tylenol. The management staff and CEO, James Burke initially viewed the crisis as a serious situation, but felt the incident did not occur at their production facility. Nevertheless, the contamination were related to their Tylenol brand name. So they knew the nation was in a panic because of the tainted Tylenol capsules, and took full responsibility for the safety of customers. Johnson and Johnson faced two options as a results of the crisis. James Burke formed a team and advised them to address two questions to resolve the critical issues and respond to the public concerns, first “How do we protect the safety of the people?” and second “How do we save the Tylenol brand name?” Their first reaction was to notify customers across the nation to stop the use the Tylenol product until further investigation had been determined regarding the tampering of the product. The company ceased the production of making the product as well as pulling Tylenol from the shelves in Chicago area first, then eventually across the nation. The company knew this would cause a decrease in their profit because Tylenol had been one of their most successful product which had increased their sales to an enormous profit of 17 percent. The company understood their first priority was to protect the people. They uses a 1-800 hotline for customers to call with questions and concerns. They also established a toll-free line for news organizations to call and receive pre-taped daily messages with updated statements about the crisis. CEO, James Burke recognized the brand name could be protected if they acted quickly to keep the confidence of the public. So they change the contents of the Tylenol brand by using new tampering resistant seal packaging with hopes to keep the situation from occurring again. Tylenol now has a three-point protection system consisting of a tape seal on the box, a wrapper on the cap, and a seal over the mouth of the bottle. Johnson and Johnson is a well-known company that has been around the household of many customers across the nation for many years. Since the company’s household name was at risk, their ethical obligation as a company was to make the right decision. And to do the right thing to protect the health of the public. Their primary mission was to keep the trust of their consumers which had been built for many years through several products. Therefore, their response was crucial to the company which was to protect the reputation of the industry as a whole, as well as to maintain the trust of the customers, employees, communities and stockholders. Johnson & Johnson influence the attitudes and beliefs of the public by using compassion and sympathy approaches to the victim families and public even though they felt they were not responsible for the tampering of the product. Tylenol has been placed back on the shelves and the company has recovered. Today, their image is viewed as trustworthy because they made the right decision to pull Tylenol from the shelves and alert the nation.