In 1982 Tylenol faced a public relations nightmare, some laced some of the capsules with cyanide and as a result 7 people died in the Chicago area. Johnson and Johnson the company that manufactures Tylenol pulled all of their product off the shelves nation wide. While this costs the company in excess of 50 million dollars it was the only ethical action to take. When human lives are at stake money can not even be a consideration, and Johnson and Johnson showed this compassion for their customers by pulling the product at a detrimental cost for the company.
While this problem was not caused by any negligent action of the company, and the crime still to this day remains unsolved it was a nightmare for Johnson and Johnson. The problem was someone had tampered with the product, as a result of this horrible and crime Johnson and Johnson became a pioneer in the tamper resistant bottles that Tylenol came in. As a result even the Federal Government's department of Food and Drug Administration tightened the regulations on tamper resistant bottles.
While this incident gained national attention it had several different publics involved. The consumer that actually had Tylenol in their home and had consumed it, the customers that lived in the Chicago area, the general population of the greater Chicago area who did not consume Tylenol on a regular basis; and of course every employee that worked where Tylenol was manufactured. At the time every employee was a potential suspect. While this was a huge public relations issued for Johnson and Johnson more importantly it was a humanitarian issue for the general public, as innocent lives where lost.
The message that Johnson and Johnson sent to the public, was an ala ...