Comments on: 1982 Tylenol case a misleading myth: O’Dwyer takes on Fortune, J& J and the public relations establishment!!

By: toni muzi falconi

toni muzi falconi — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:48:08 +0000

Friday’s link to Jack O’Dwyer’s blog referred to an old, but apparently still valid (and certainly timely…) interpretation of the famous Tylenol case -in a moment in which Johnson and Johnson finally went public with a statement after months of silence and repeated product recalls- gives me an opportunity to invite readers to click here http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/business/22crisis.html?_r=1&hp and read what, in my view, is by far the best and most comprehensive investigative story of the recent BP, Toyota and Goldman Sachs cases which appeared today, Sunday, on the New York Times.

Yet another proof, if one was needed, that if you are capable of establishing a great reputation (and certainly J&J, whethere Jack is right or wrong, certainly has), then it is likely that other negative corporate stories (like BP, Toyota and Goldman) are more likely to attract the attention of the public…..

By: O'Dwyer's Blog: Covering PR, public affairs, marketing and the world of communications.

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:55:12 +0000

IPR Says Tylenol PR Questions are ‘Conspiracy Theory’…

Institute for PR chief Bob Grupp dismissed as “conspiracy theory” this website and others’ questioning of the veracity of Johnson & Johnson’s response to the 1982 Tylenol crisis as the “gold standard” of PR crisis communications. Grupp, after thi…

By: Product recalls are pro-active PR « Heather Yaxley – Greenbanana views of public relations and more

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:33:16 +0000

[...] heroic position did not actually reflect the reality of the Tylenol case back in 1982 – no more than labelling it as a villain is an appropriate [...]

By: Heather Yaxley

Heather Yaxley — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:07:36 +0000

Anyone involved in teaching PR should be aware of the dangers of case study narratives. They do help students engage with a topic, but are constructed realities, and as in the case of both Tylenol and Exxon Valdez (highly popular examples) have been developed to be of particular value for conveying PR messages about crisis management.

Part of PR’s credibility as an academic topic, has to be recognition of issues of narrative compared to robust historical analysis.

This is particularly important as in my experience marking exam scripts of young undergraduate PR students re crisis management, they have selective recall and understanding of the case study, which in turn impacts on their knowledge of theory and its limitations for practice.

Tylenol is typical of a case study narrative used to convey “the right way” to practice PR. This is a linear, systemic, modernist approach to PR which ignores the complexity of reality and the needs of a post-modernist world.

I feel we are doing a disservice to students, practitioners and employers, when we continue to use such simplistic, cliched examples. By all means recognise the value of narrative in examples, but let’s be honest about the reality rather than creating ideals that present some companies and approaches as heroes and others as villains.

By: Toni Muzi Falconi

Toni Muzi Falconi — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:29:56 +0000

Jack is back again on this story. Read this note which was added this morning and which replies to Luigi Norsa’s comment here:

TYLENOL DID NOT WIN ‘REGULAR’ SILVER ANVIL IN 1983
The Tylenol PR effort following the deaths of seven people in 1982 did not win a “regular” Silver Anvil of PR Society of America in 1983.
It was entered by J&J in the “Emergency PR” category and lost to Hygrade Food Products handled by PR Assocs. of Detroit for a program called “Getting Hygrade off the Griddle” after its hot dogs were allegedly tampered with.
Beverly Beltaire, president of PRA, said she was shocked when J&J got a “special” Silver Anvil.
Co-chair of the Anvils Don Hill “called me and said, ‘You beat Tylenol…your campaign had so many creative angles and was done for so much less.’”
One reason Tylenol lost was that J&J refused to provide any budget figure. A big factor in winning an Anvil is obtaining maximum impact through editorial pick-up at minimum expense.
Beltaire said she asked Hill how J&J won the “special Anvil” and he replied that the Silver Anvil committee itself made the award, something that was unprecedented in Anvil history.
The committee decided that Tylenol “was more than an emergency PR program–that it lifted the level of PR,” said Hill.
J&J for many years was one of the biggest advertisers in PRSA publications. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (named after the founder of J&J) gave $2.6 million in 1998 to the “Kids in a Drug-Free Society” started by the PRSA Foundation and the Partnership for a Drug-Free Society. The RWJ Foundation canceled the program in 2001.
PRSA had promised to raise $1M for KIDS but had a loss of $1M in 1999-2000 and made no contribution to KIDS. It cancelled its 2000 Blue Book of Members because of lack of funds.

By: Toni Muzi Falconi

Toni Muzi Falconi — Thu, 24 May 2007 07:27:40 +0000

My life companion is a respected contemporary historian and she says that, as much as historiographic interpretations of events may change as cultures change, facts are facts and no history is possible if these are not verified.
Of course, there are facts and facts… and in the mind of others their interpretation changes according to which are focussed and which are either omitted or underplayed.
I do not know if the factual elements Jack brings to his story are correct or not and I believe it would be essential for Johnson and Johnson, a company I and most of us have always admired (also because of her presumed handling of the Tylenol case), to tell us all that she knows…if not for other reasons (transparency…) to put the record straight so that when Jaryna, for example, teaches to her beginners.. she says things which are factual.
I am sure many would think that a similar approach should involve many other moments of our professional history…for example, for years I had been convinced that our mythical Ed Bernays was not paid by tobacco manufacturers when he promoted the ‘let women smoke in public’ parade down manhattan’s park avenue. Then (I believe, but might be wrong) that it was Stuart Ewen in his Spin book who revealed this fact. I still believe that Ed was the most creative professional of the 20th century and certainly the most influential, but of course I now better understand why he did it (and not because he was a pre-feminist, having also learned of his highly admirable sexual prowess which lasted longer than his first centennial…or is this also a myth?).

By: Yaryna Klyuchkovska

Yaryna Klyuchkovska — Wed, 23 May 2007 21:03:30 +0000

Certainly, an interesting turn of events for me – I’m one of those who uses the Tylenol case frequently when teaching for beginners. It’s worthwhile to understand what really happens. But what I believe truly important is how much this myth affected the practice of crisis management and helped set the standards, including the 24-hour rule.

By: Luigi Norsa

Luigi Norsa — Wed, 23 May 2007 09:25:50 +0000

Dear Toni, this case is a myth, as others, because with the years many people, not directly witnessing, speak about. And the story change…
J&J received a Silver Anvil Award from the PRSA for its handling of the affair, but some dissenting opinions were also voiced. It was a very complex story that generated 2500 logged enquiries from the media and up to 138000 clippings. Some months later Basil Saunder wrote an interestin analysys on Public Relations. The essential point of this case is that despite only 75 capsules from a single batch resulted contaminated after the testing of 8 millionsin the factory, the fact that the contamination could not have taken place and despite the advise of FBI and FDA, J&J decided to recall all Tylenol capsules nationwide. And six weeks later relaunched the product with a huge video-conference and within five months Tylenol recovered 70% of its former market share, dropped to 13%. Perhaps it’s more an excellent case of marketing than PR…but no questions they were able to manage a disaster and transforming it in a positive myth.