Running head: THE TYLENOL MURDERS

The Case Study:

The Tylenol Murders
A Crisis Communication Issue Handled
Georgiana Terzoglou and Danielle Hoyt
Bryant University

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The Tylenol Muders

A Crisis Communication Issue Handled

The Case Study Information
During the early 1980s, Tylenol became one of the most successful over-the-counter
products made by Johnson & Johnson in the United States. The product was responsible for more
than 19 percent of the companys profits in 1982. It lead the industry in being the number one
painkiller for consumers, outselling the other four leading brands, including Bayer, Anacin,
Bufferin, and Excedrin (Berge, 1990).
Unfortunately, the company and their number one brand, Tylenol, took a turn for the
worse. In October 1982, seven individuals living in Chicago were reported dead after taking
Johnson & Johnsons Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. It was found that an unknown suspect
tampered with the bottles and inserted more than 65 milligrams of deadly cyanide into the
capsules. This excessive amount is 10,000 times more than the necessary amount to kill a human
being. It was discovered that the capsule tampering occurred once the bottles were already
placed back on the shelves. The suspect had removed them, poisoned the pills with cyanide, and
put them back on the shelves for individuals to purchase.
Once there was a clear connection between the seven reported deaths and the Tylenol,
announcements were made to the public warning them about the dangerous cyanide poisonings.
The company was left with the dilemma of how to handle the crisis situation and maintain a
good reputation for themselves during this time. Johnson & Johnson held an urgent recall on the
contaminated product, consisting of 31 million bottles nationwide and losing more than $100
million dollars in profits for the company. In addition to the recall, Johnson & Johnson
suspended all advertisements for the Tylenol product in the time of the crisis.

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Even though Johnson & Johnson knew they were not personally responsible for the
poisoning of the capsules, they took responsibility for controlling the situation. They ensured the
public that they value customer safety, which is why they held an immediate recall on the
product. Officials stated that the tampered capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol came from four
different manufacturing lots. Evidence suggests that the capsules were taken from different stores
over the period of a few weeks to a couple of months. Once the suspect tampered with the
capsules, they were placed back on shelves for people to purchase in five different stores
(Kaplan, 1998).
After the incident occurred, Johnson & Johnson was left to deal with another similar
crisis a few years later. In February 1986, another woman was reported dead from cyanide
poisoning in the Tylenol capsules. Johnson & Johnson made the executive decision to
permanently remove and suspect all of their Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules and other products
from the shelves. Several months after the poisonings occurred, James W. Lewis, was arrested
for sending an extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson. In the letter, Lewis demanded $1 million
dollars if they wanted the killings to stop. After being incarcerated for 12 years, Lewis still holds
his innocence in the murder cases.
Key Issues and Specific Themes
Dealing With the Media
The initial contact between the media and Johnson & Johnson representatives regarding
the crisis was not ideal. Because the reporters call was the first time the company had heard of
the situation, they had to respond with the No comment. Despite this rocky beginning, the
organization was able to quickly create a crisis management team and respond swiftly. This
quick response was critical, as it was unknown at first that the product had been tampered with

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after having been taken out of company hands and put on store shelves. Therefore, the original
media stories showed Tylenol in a very negative light (Department of Defense). Because of this,
it was paramount that the organization work with the media very quickly to give them new
information about the tampering and further updates as quickly as possible, in order for them to
regain their products good name and reputation.
Part of Johnson & Johnsons immediate response was to not only recall the Tylenol
products from store shelves, but also to collaborate with the media to tell people not to use any of
the Tylenol products they may have purchased prior to the recall (Department of Defense). They
additionally held several press conferences, including hosting several major press events at their
corporate headquarters. Within hours of the situation coming to their attention, Johnson &
Johnson had arranged for a national press conference that streamed from their headquarters
nationally to news outlets (Department of Defense). This was done in an effort to inform as many
news agencies as possible for all the facts as quickly as they could. They continued to use this
format to update the press, keeping a consistency in their communication channel. Six months
after the initial crisis, the company organized another press event held through satellite in 100
U.S. cities in order to announce the re-introduction of Extra-Strength Tylenol products to the
market, along with their new product packaging with increased safety measures to prevent
tampering (Hilburg, 2013).
Due to these efforts, the media used the company and their spokespeople, in addition to
the federal authorities, as the primary sources for news information. The company took further
steps to ensure that they provided the media with critical updates and information they needed to
meet their broadcasting and publishing deadlines. A toll free phone number was created
specifically to give the media timely updates. Media personnel could call into the line, which

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continuously played recordings of the daily updates on the crisis. In the 80s, this was about as
quickly as news was published, so daily updates were sufficient to meet the medias needs. Since
the media expects sources to use the same formats for the duration of the situation, Johnson &
Johnson made sure to update the recordings every day, therefore continuously updating the
media in the same manner. This strategy is also a good way to avoid giving preference. If a
document is being sent out, or agencies are being invited in to a press conference, some may be
left off the list, either accidentally or for lack of room or time. With the phone line, any reporter
could easily call in, no matter what agency they came from. It is also more efficient, since the
team did not have to spend time taking as many individual phone calls from each media
professional.
The company also chose a capable main spokesperson, the Chairman and CEO Jim
Burke. He was an incredibly active spokesperson, and, although he had no official crisis
communication training, he was quite competent. His voice was on the recorded phone line with
daily updates, he spoke at every press conference, and he appeared on several popular television
shows including 60 minutes, the Donahue Show, Today, Nightline, CBS Evening News, and The
McNeillLehrer Report (Szczepanik, 2003; Department of Defense). He truly became the face of
the crisis, the personification of the organization handling the crisis. There are several things that
any message delivered by a crisis spokesperson should convey: empathy and caring, competence
and expertise, honesty and openness, commitment and dedication, and accountability (C. Morse,
personal communication, February 29, 2016). Burke conveyed genuine sadness for those who
had been affected by the poisoned capsules and their loved ones, as well as concern for the safety
of other consumers. His title and position within the company displayed his competence in
handling a situation of this magnitude. Although he personally did not have the expertise to be

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handling the communication regarding a criminal investigation, he made it clear that the FBI was
on top of that and that his company was doing everything they could to support that
investigation. Every time there was an update, he shared it with the public. Even when he found
the potentially damaging information that small amounts of cyanide were kept in the plant,
separate from the manufacturing environment for the capsules, he was open and honest with the
press and public about it (Szczepanik, 2003). He displayed his commitment and dedication to the
resolution of this crisis by speaking at every press conference, being the point of contact in
general at the company for the media. He seemed completely invested in resolving this crisis
situation. Finally, Burke conveyed the sense that both he and Johnson & Johnson felt a sense of
accountability in this situation. Even though the company and their product were not at fault for
the deaths, Johnson & Johnson took immediate responsibility for managing the situation.
Because Burke was the CEO, and was so clearly and publicly intertwined with both the
organization and the crisis, it is clear that if things were to go wrong for the public, they would
go wrong for Burke, too. In every appearance, Burke was genuine and sincere, conveying the
organizations concern for consumer safety, and showing how much emphasis was being put on
rectifying the issue going forward. This made him trustworthy, and he made it seem like the
crisis was in good hands.
Dealing With Stakeholders
Johnson & Johnson dealt effectively with the media and created good working
relationships with them. They also communicated well with Tylenol consumers and the public at
large. But these are not the only groups who might be affected by this crisis, and Johnson &
Johnson made sure to address these additional key stakeholders as well. Employees of Johnson
& Johnson, especially those involved with the Tylenol brand, were definitely concerned with

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how the company was handling this crisis. All employees were sent two letters that gave them
updates on the situation and thanked them for their continued support. The employees at the two
manufacturing plants that had to be temporarily shut down during federal investigations were
given special attention through employee assemblies conducted by Jim Burke himself, and were
also offered temporary positions in other locations. The importance of employees is stated in the
company credo (see Appendix A), making communication with and consideration of their
employees a central part of Johnson & Johnsons approach to the management of this crisis.
Another key stakeholder was the distributors of Tylenol products, including medical facilities
such as hospitals and doctors offices. Nearly half a million telex messages with warnings
regarding the contaminated products were sent to such facilities on the very first afternoon.
Throughout the crisis, detailed information packages with critical updates were faxed or
telegrammed to major distributors (Szczepanik, 2003, p. 58 - 59).
Dealing With the Public
Once Johnson & Johnson became aware of the crisis situation they were dealing with,
CEO James Burke assembled a seven-member team to help with strategies on how to handle the
publics reactions. The first issue Burke and his team wanted to address was how to protect the
people, as well as how to save the product. The company immediately informed all consumers
across the nation to not use any kind of Tylenol product. They warned users to wait until more
information was released on the tampering and poisoning of the capsules to continue using the
product. Along with stopping all of their Tylenol production and advertising, they withdrew all
capsules from stores in Chicago and surrounding areas. Once more bottles were found to be
contaminated, Johnson & Johnson ordered a national withdraw of the product (Broom, Center, &
Cutlip, 1994).

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By recalling all of their Tylenol products, Johnson & Johnson showed the public that they
were not willing to take risks when it came to their consumers safety, even though it would cost
the company lots of money. People sided with Johnson & Johnson and respected the company
for dealing with this unfortunate event that came their way. The public viewed the company to
have fallen victim to this unforeseen crime (Broom et al., 1994).
In order to relay the message of the dangerous cyanide poisonings, Johnson & Johnson
created an alert to inform the public to make sure they were not using the product. Within the
first week of the crisis, they created a hotline for consumers to call for any information. The
hotline also responded to any questions or concerns the public had about their safety and use of
Tylenol. In addition to the hotline, Johnson & Johnson established a toll-free line for news and
other organizations to call and listen to pre-taped daily messages. The messages were continually
updated statements regarding the current crisis (Berge, 1990). They sincerely apologized to
anyone directly affected by the tampering of the product, as well as all of their consumers. It was
a situation that fell out of their hands, but Johnson & Johnson took full responsibility for the
consequences, assuring the public that their best interest is in mind.
The Future of the Product
Johnson & Johnson knew that once the product was permanently removed from the
market, they had to come up with a new plan to re-introduce the product and reassure consumers
that it was safe to use again. The first call of order Johnson & Johnson put forth was new
packaging. They re-introduced their products with a triple-seal tamper resistant wrap. It had a
plastic sear over the neck of the bottle, as well as a foil seal over the mouth. The outside
packaging of Tylenol also had a glued box, making it more difficult for people to break. Tylenol
products and Johnson & Johnson became the first company to comply with the Food and Drug

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Administration (FDA) mandate of the tamper-resistant packaging, just six months after the crisis
occurred (Mitchell, 1989). Also, instead of the previously used capsules, the company decided to
make the switch to caplets, which were more resistant to tampering.
Johnson & Johnson knew it was going to be difficult to get consumers to purchase their
products after the crisis. To motivate their customers, Johnson & Johnson offered a $2.50 off
coupon on the purchase of their Tylenol. These coupons were available for consumers in
newspapers and by calling a toll-free number to retrieve it (Mitchell, 1989). Because of the crisis,
Johnson & Johnson had to recover from their loss stock. They made a new pricing program that
also enticed consumers to purchase the product. Johnson & Johnson offered customers up to 25
percent off the purchase of a Tylenol product. To increase their sales after the incident, there was
over 2,250 sales personnel making presentations to the medical community to ensure product
confidence (Mitchell, 1989).
FBI Involvement
There were multiple governmental agencies involved with this company crisis and public
health scare. Originally the Chicago Police Department headed the investigation, but the FBI and
FDA quickly took over (MissionMode, 2012). This move to federal jurisdiction occurred because
the incident was labeled an act of terrorism. As the National Institute of Justice reports, the FBI
defines terrorism as the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to
intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance
of political or social objectives (2011). Because the intentions and motivations behind these
poisonings were unknown, they moved forward with the information they had. At that point, they
knew someone had intentionally caused the deaths of 7 people and had intended to do more

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harm, apparently intending to create social disruption. Since no one has ever been charged or
convicted of this crime, the specific intentions remain unknown.
Johnson & Johnson were compliant with the investigations from the start. They
temporarily shut down the two Tylenol manufacturing plants supplying the Chicago area, and
allowed federal authorities from the FBI and FDA to come into the plants in order to determine if
the tampering was committed inside the plant by an employee (Szczepanik, 2003, p. 49). The
company was also highly cooperative with the FDA in the months following the original crisis.
They worked with the FDA to comply to the new standards for product safety that were put in
place following this incident. As a result, Johnson & Johnson became the first company to
comply with the new tamper-resistant packaging requirements, as well as beginning the
recommended transition from capsules to caplets (MissionMode, 2012).

Lessons Learned
Although there were many positive aspects of the way Johnson & Johnson handled this
corporate crisis, there are some areas in which there is room for improvement. The major issue in
this case was that the media was made aware of the situation before the company. In fact, it was
a reporter that incidentally brought the crisis to the companys attention by calling them
requesting a comment for his article. The Chicago medical examiner had held a press conference
at which he declared the deaths linked and the result of the poisoning of Extra-Strength Tylenol
capsules with cyanide (Department of Defense). For other companies, especially with brands as
large as Tylenol, it might be wise to have a crisis management team in place that is on the
lookout for potential crisis situations such as this. Then, instead of having to play catch up with

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the media, they could begin the implementation of their crisis management plan and be ahead of
the situation.
When crisis situation occurred, Johnson & Johnson appointed their CEO, James Burke, to
be the spokesperson of their company, instead of hiring an outside public relations team. Even
though Burke performed exceptionally with the incident, it might have been more beneficial for
the company to hire a professional public relations team. Johnson & Johnson is known for their
high representation in conducting a positive and respectable example of how to handle a crisis
situation. They could add to their great outreach by also hiring a professional team to help Burke.
By doing this, the team could have helped Burke conduct future plans for the company and
taking care of the issue at whole. If Burke had extra help in taking care of the tragic chain of
events, he would have had more time to reassure that nothing like that would ever happen again,
as it did a second time about three years later. Burke and his strategic seven-member team could
have focused in on their time by dealing with the issues of the product, rather than constantly
updating the media and the public at the same time.
In regards to the companys mindfulness of consumer safety and wellbeing, Johnson &
Johnson is an exemplary model of corporate responsibility. The first tenet of the company credo
(See Appendix A) is responsibility toward their consumers, thus consumer safety was of
paramount importance throughout the duration of their crisis response (Szczepanik, 2003, p. 46).
Other companies that had experienced crises relating to product contamination had placed profit
before the wellbeing of their consumers and they suffered for it (Szczepanik, 2003, p. 49).
Johnson & Johnson showed that they truly cared about their consumers safety through recalls,
halting of advertisement campaigns, messages delivered in press conferences, and warning
messages sent directly to healthcare providers. These efforts combined with the ultimate finding

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that the contamination had occurred once the products were already on the shelves allowed
Tylenol, and thus Johnson & Johnson, to maintain their good brand name and trustworthy
reputation, as well as a solid customer base.
During a crisis situation, it is always important for the individual or company to assume
responsibility, even if it is not directly their fault. Taking responsibility for the actions shows the
public that the individual or company is sincere in trying to fix the situation. The public will
respect the honesty and efforts done in trying to fix everything as soon as possible. Even though
Johnson & Johnson did not have any involvement in the tampering of the capsules, they still
assumed full responsibility for the seven deaths that occurred. They immediately addressed the
public about what was happening with their Tylenol products and established a recall of all their
products currently on the shelves. By doing this, Johnson & Johnson established confidence with
their consumers.
Johnson & Johnson reacted to this crisis very quickly once they were made aware of it,
taking several major measures in the first several hours to rectify the situation and prevent
further damage. The speediness with which the company began addressing the situation showed
the public and other stakeholders how seriously the organization was taking this situation and
their commitment to resolving it as soon as possible. Throughout the crisis and federal
investigations, the company remained frank and genuine in their communication with both the
media and the public. This transparency added to the overall sense that Johnson & Johnson was
committed to consumer safety at all costs. It showed they had nothing to hide, and were doing
everything they could to aid the investigatory process. The company not only acted swiftly and
communicated openly, their actions also conveyed decisiveness. Not only were products recalled
in Chicago, once more tampering came to light a nationwide recall was immediately put in place.

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The consistency with which the company acted, along with the unified message their
spokespeople presented, displayed a sense of direction. This combined with the companys
openness indicated that they were competent and cable of handling this crisis in a professional
and ethically sound manner.
It is essential for an individual or company to collaborate with the media during a crisis
situation. The public is in a state of panic and it is important to address their uncertainty with
constant updates about the incident. Johnson & Johnson handled this situation efficiently by
using the media to issue a national alert telling the public not to use Tylenol products. In addition
to the national alert, Johnson & Johnson put together a 1-800 hotline for consumers to phone.
The company used this hotline to update any inquiries made by consumers concerning their
safety. An additional toll-free line was created for news organizations and media to call and
receive daily messages that were updated statements about the crisis. Johnson & Johnson also
held several press conferences at their corporate headquarters to address the public with updated
information regarding the crisis. By providing the public with constant updates, they were able to
reassure them that everything in their power was being done to provide as much information as
possible. Johnson & Johnson wanted the public to know that they were being 100 percent
truthful with any kind of detail received about the tamperings.

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References

Berge, T. (1990). The First 24-Hours. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, Inc.
Broom, G., Center, A., & Cutlip, S. (1994). Effective Public Relations, 7. Prentice-Hall Inc.
Department of Defense. Crisis communication strategies: Case study of the Johnson & Johnson
Tylenol Crisis. Retrieved from http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/02C2/Johnso
n%20&%20Johnson.htm
Hilburg, A. (2013, November 15). Why values matter in business: Five key lessons from Tylenol
crisis from the Tylenol Man himself. BizNews. Retrieved from http://www.biznew
s.com/thought-leaders/2013/11/15/five-key-lessons-from-tylenol-crisis/
Kaplan, T. Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved May 1, 2016 from
http://222.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/tylenol/crisis.html
MissionMode. (2012, October 4). 5 Crisis management truths from the Tylenol murders.
Retrieved from http://www.missionmode.com/5-crisis-management-truths-from-thetylenol -murders/
Mitchell, L. M. (1989). The impact of external parties on brand name capital: the 1982 tylenol
poisonings and subsequent cases.
National Institute of Justice. (2011, September 13). Terrorism. Retrieved from http://www.nij.go
v/topics/crime/terrorism/pages/welcome.aspx
Szczepanik, K. (2003). The importance of crisis communication: What lessons did we learn from
Tylenol and Exxon? Retrieved from OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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Center.
Appendix A
The Johnson & Johnson Credo

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