Since the 1982 recall of the Johnson & Johnson cyanide-laced Tylenol crisis, Johnson & Johnson has made safety and consumer wants, a bigger focus for their company and reputation.
However, in February 2012, Johnson & Johnson’s baby Tylenol faced its own recall. Since the 1982 crisis, many things were different about this product problem, reason for recall, and the way it was socially handled.
In 1982, social media existed in the form of newspapers and television. News didn’t travel as fast in 1982; as Facebook, Twitter and even blogs hadn’t really made their biggest appearance yet. Also, as news didn’t travel as fast, neither did the option for Johnson & Johnson to spread their social media attempts at crisis management very quickly, especially compared to the 2012 forms of social media.
When February 2012 presented the baby Tylenol recall, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs all played a much bigger factor with how Johnson & Johnson strategized their public relations, dealing with the product defect.
The problem: Johnson & Johnson created a baby Tylenol product where the grape flavored medicine was placed in a bottle with a little hole in the top; just big enough for a syringe with the exact dosage measuring capabilities to be placed inside. Luckily, this time the problem didn’t lie in the grape flavored medicine specifically, it lied in the design of the bottle and the inconvenience of the syringe being difficult to use or getting completely stuck in the bottle.
The solution: Johnson & Johnson recalled 574,000 bottles of grape infant Tylenol after receiving just 17 complaints from parents about the inconvenient design of the bottle.
The social media strategies: Johnson & Johnson used Facebook and Twitter accompanied with the traditional forms of social media, such as TV and newspapers, to focus their messages on how this Tylenol recall was for the consumers’ comfort in using the product, not on any dangers in the components of the actual medicine. Johnson & Johnson’s Twitter remained upbeat and gave consumers information on Tylenol as a whole, video tutorials on how to make sure you give your child the correct dosage at all times, and also directed consumers to the Tylenol.com website where they could claim a full refund of the product if they felt they wanted one. All Johnson & Johnson’s tweets were centered around the consumers comfort and remained positive and informative about the harmless bottle feature. Facebook posted a similar status where everything was positive, information based and really focused on how the product was harmless and recalled simply to satisfy customer’s desired comfort in using the product. As newspapers are still used and a common social media aspect used in both the 1982 recall and the 2012 recall, the great thing about the newspapers this time, is they were reflecting the same information Johnson & Johnson was reflecting in their social media posts. Well-known newspapers such as the Huffington Post and New York Times were both posting about the information Johnson & Johnson was passing along and let their readers know that the product was not harmful and that Johnson & Johnson was remaining focused on their consumers’ comfort.
The result: Johnson & Johnson used social media in such a positive way in this recall that it created a stronger brand image for Tylenol and for the company of Johnson & Johnson, as consumers were made aware through every form of social media that Johnson & Johnson was completely focused on consumers’ comfort, happiness and trust in their product. The leaps of progress Johnson & Johnson has made with their Tylenol product image and image as a company since the 1982 recall are great, as Johnson & Johnson continues to be one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Their use of social media and public relations with their most recent Tylenol recall have made the recall not a problem, but a solution to the questions any consumers may have had on their product and company.
