Advanced Search

Wanna Argument?

Dealing with Products and Managers that Fail: Corporate Cyanide and Executive Suicide

Why do firms recall some products?

Image: Tylenol - the firm producing the drug have been held up as an example of best practice in dealing with product safety fears. Copyright: Parahype

In 1982 pharmaceuticals manufacturer Johnson & Johnson had to recall all supplies of its main painkiller, Tylenol. The product was found to have been laced with cyanide, leading to the deaths of seven customers. Recognising the potential of the incidents to ruin the business, the firm took the decision to alert consumers across the USA. They told people not to use the product again until the tampering case was resolved. Production was halted and advertising of Tylenol was withdrawn; in total, 31 million bottles of the product were recalled, worth an approximate $100 million.

But although the company's fortunes were inevitably affected and Johnson & Johnson's earnings were drastically hit, the story did not end here. The firm was widely praised for its response to the crisis. They have been held up as an example of best practice in dealing with product safety fears. In dealing openly with the public, the local and national police forces and the Food and Drug Administration, the company received a great deal of positive media coverage. When Tylenol was re-launched a number of years later, it was packaged in a revolutionary tamper-proof container. Some years later, the product regained its place as the number one selling analgesic drug in the US market.

Back to the Argument