The Story of Tylenol and Re-Building Trust
The Tylenol crisis of 1982 reveals emotional intelligence and re-building trust when crisis hits a company. It reveals the human side of empathy, caring, common sense, and most importantly, re-building ?damaged trust in the American psyche. Here is the story.
In 1982 Tylenol was the best-selling, nonprescription pain reliever that was being sold in the United States by a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. There were a series of deaths in Chicago, beginning with a twelve-year-old girl, who had a headache, and her parents gave her a Tylenol after returning home from soccer practice. She died the following morning. Several deaths followed- in quite the same fashion. This was a crisis. Cyanide was found in the Tylenol capsules in selected bottles. To this day, the perpetrator has never been found.
?Story continued Below…
From the Denver area? FREE 1-hr workshop,Tuesday, November 12th, 2-3pm, Lakewood, CO. with me, Preethi Fernando, on RE-BUILDING TRUST. ?Submit for CEU. Sign up: https://balancedceo.aidaform.com/free-template-art-class-registration-form
?Sales plummeted. Share prices dropped. Trust collapsed. Parents freaked out. It shattered the company’s image. It could have been the end of Tylenol. In fact, many assumed that it was.
The company took an active role in cooperating with the authorities. Rather than avoiding the media and staying in hiding, they relieved the pain of the people by proactively coming forward to face the media to answer painfully difficult questions.
What Were Their Immediate Steps?: Johnson and Johnson used the media to issue a national alert to tell the public not to use the Tylenol product. In the first week of the crisis Johnson and Johnson established a 1-800 hotline for consumers to call. They worked with the authorities and agreed to pull out all Tylenol capsules off the shelf. It marked the first mass recall in US history involving more than 31 million bottles and costing the company more than $100 million at the time in 1982. The recall announcement however was unpopular on Wall Street where J & J’s stock continued to drop, and marketing experts predicted the quick demise of Tylenol. The medication’s share of the market dropped from 37% to 7% within a few months.
?Prominent advertising executives predicted consumers would not see the Tylenol name on any form, or on any store shelves, within a year. Employees worried that Tylenol would not survive as a brand. Production was halted indefinitely. People were told to throw away all their Tylenol capsules or turn them over to the police. Bottles of Tylenol were sent to the laboratory for testing. More than 10 million capsules were tested for cyanide. Hospitals, clinics, and customers were sent notices saying Tylenol was “taking it back, lock, stock, and barrel.”
Facing the Crisis, Head On: Johnson and Johnson tried different strategies to restore public confidence. Someone suggested they re-name the brand name. The company took a more deep-rooted strategy to re-build trust during the crisis. Rather than doing a superficial alteration of changing brand names, they dug deeper towards the root cause of the problem. They attacked the problem, head on. They started full force, to re-build damaged trust in the psyche of. the American consumer.
Asking Simple Questions During a Complicated Crisis: During the crisis, someone along the way probably had the presence of mind and common sense to ask a very simple question. “If I were a mother, a father, a grandparent, or family member suspected that one of my pills in my medicine cabinet at home was laced with cyanide, what would I do? Would I throw only a few select capsules that I bought from one pharmacy and not the other or would I throw away every single Tylenol pill in my medicine cabinet?”
The answer was obvious. Any loving and caring parent would throw out every single pill in. their medicine cabinet, fearing any one could be poisoned. This simple question was applied at the global level.
Common Sense and emotional Intelligence: Having the common sense and presence of mind to ask this simple question was a key sign of emotional intelligence. Strategic use of emotional intelligence during a crisis moment ultimately became a lifesaver for Tylenol in re-building trust in the American psyche .
The story of Tylenol and how the company re-built fractured trust in the minds of the consumer is sublime 7 Lessons to Learn;
1 Re-building damaged trust begins in the psyche
2 It is possible to re-build fractured trust, although not easy
3 It might cost money in the shorter run and even bear financial loss to re-build trust
4 Ignoring the betrayal of trust will not necessarily make it go away
5 Putting the entire focus on addressing the problem
6 Swallowing a hard pill of admitting a mistake
7 Facing it to erasing it
8 When it comes to re-building trust, spend more time repairing, less time preparing
?
Emotional intelligence was the difference maker in how this crisis was handled.
Story Continued...
Steps Taken to Re-Build Damaged Trust: Trust, and more importantly re-building damaged trust is key in emotional intelligence. First, they pulled off every single pill from pharmacies throughout America. Next, John and Johnson
introduced triple-sealed packaging that included a box with glued flaps, tight plastic wrap around the bottle cap, and a foil seal covering the mouth of the bottle. The company’s key initiative involved tamper-evident packaging to help consumers feel safe enough to take Tylenol again. Labeling on the box and bottle warned consumers not to use the medicine if “safety seals” were broken. With this effective tamper-evident packaging Johnson and Johnson re-introduced the product to the market as capsules.
More time Repairing, Less time Preparing: In announcing the new packaging Johnson and Johnson considered it a “moral imperative, as well as good business” to restore Tylenol to the same prominence it held to the market prior to the poisonings. The company first did serious repairing and damage control, before doing any kind of preparing of new products. They spent more time repairing, less time preparing, until they handled the crisis.
Damage Control Tactics: To boost consumer interest Johnson and Johnson launched a media blitz promoting the safer bottles. They highlighted the financial hit the company took from the country’s first mass recall. Johnson and Johnson executives spoke about corporate responsibility and how they put people before profit. These were strategic emotionally intelligent steps that the company proactively took to re-build damaged trust in the American psyche.
Facing the Media Head On: They faced the media instead of running away from reporters, they answered the difficult questions posed by difficult reporters instead of saying “I don’t have that information right now,” they stayed with the crisis. Instead of downplaying it, they put their energy in addressing the crisis from the root instead of doing a superficial approach. All these collectively defined the CEO leadership stance in handling the crisis. Collectively, these quick decisions during the crisis slowly helped to restore trust in the psyche of the consumer.
Going the Extra Mile: They went further. Tylenol also offered a free bottle of safety sealed Tylenol to anyone who called the company and requested one. It installed scores of new phone lines, then recruited staff and their families to answer the phones. It was a major step forward in re-establishing the confidence of the public.
Taking a Financial Hit: Johnson and Johnson spent millions, on damage control, to get their sales back.? They had to repair that crisis situation first and go on damage control and earn trust in order to get their sales numbers rebound. It revealed the character of the company.
Crisis don’t define a Company; They Reveal a Company: It was not so much about the crisis, as it was about how Johnson and Johnson handled the crisis that became a pivotal turning point in restoring public trust. It was a crisis,? the company faced. Crisis moments do not define a company They reveal a company. This crisis revealed the character of the Tylenol company. More importantly, it revealed the character of the people with the highest level of influence at the time in how they handled the crisis.
Today, I still have Tylenol in my medicine cabinet- thanks to how Johnson and Johnson re-built trust during? the Tylenol crisis of 1982.
If you like to join me for a free 1-hr workshop in Denver on Re-building trust, see details at the start of this article. Sign up link above.
Preethi Fernando | Author | Keynote Speaker?