Our Project is based on the ‘The 1982 Tylenol Crisis’.

Tylenol is a product of Johnson & Johnson (an

American based multinational pharmaceutical company). It is one of the leading companies of the
industry with its products found in almost every household in not only the U.S but around the globe.

Explained briefly, this crisis took place when, in 1982, a few of the Tylenol bottles in Chicago drugstores
were tampered with and laced with poison resulting in seven deaths in the region. In this report, we
explore how the incident took place, the consequences it brought along, the challenges it posed for J&J
and how the company was able to overcome these disastrous chain of events.

There are numerous reasons that inclined us towards choosing this particular crisis for our report.

Firstly, The Tylenol Crisis serves as a benchmark. It is the gold standard of how one should view and
manage an unexpected negative situation. It shows the importance of taking values into consideration
and not always prioritizing profits, a phenomenon explored later on in this report.

The response to the 1982 Tylenol crisis is currently the most widely taught case study of effective crisis
management in business schools in the United States. It has been the bases for many of the crisis
communication strategies developed by researchers for more than 20 years. Berg’s “Suffering Strategy”
and Benoits “Rectification strategies” were both developed by studying the way Johnson & Johnson
handled the Tylenol Poisonings.

The communication and leadership examples portrayed by the higher authorities of J&J during this crisis
are worthy of study and interpretation. The numerous strategies that they adopted to counter act the
negative effects of this incident and how Johnson & Johnson didn’t only limit itself to protect its own
reputation, but considered consumer confidence and product safety as well managed to captivate our
interest. Our fascination only grew as we found out more and more about the poisonings and their
effects after which we decided to explore them in detail.

How Johnson & Johnson completely recovered its market share lost in record time along with protecting
their reputation and establishing a brand name as one of the most trusted over-the-counter consumer
products in America to this today, grabbed our interest as their handling of this crisis serves as a
pathway to better understand how the company remains successful in trying times.

Thus, all of the afore-mentioned points led us towards choosing this particular crisis as the best suited
one for our report.