Lessons From How Tylenol Is Dealing With Its Latest Reputational Splitting Headache
Introduction by Thom Fladung, Hennes Communications
Forty-three years ago, Tylenol and its then-parent company Johnson & Johnson faced an existential crisis: Someone – who has never been caught – tampered with bottles, added poison and people died.
The company’s response of immediately pulling 31 million bottles off the shelves and keeping Tylenol off until the invention of tamper-resistant medicine packaging still is considered today “a textbook case study in crisis communication,” as Ad Age put it.
Late last month, Tylenol faced its latest reputational crisis when President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., held a press event in which – despite science-backed studies to the contrary – they linked Tylenol to autism. “Don’t take Tylenol,” the president repeated several times.
Ad Age reached out to Hennes Communications Managing Partner Thom Fladung and other crisis communications consultants to talk about the best practices for reputation defense this time. Here’s a quick summary of that advice:
- Take the issue on. “They are doing exactly what they should be doing—they’re not hiding and they’re hitting it head on,” Michele Ehrhart, author of the book “Crisis Compass: How to Communicate When It Matters Most,” told Ad Age.
- Start with internal communications. Your first and most important audience are your own employees, Fladung said. They’ll have questions, they’ll be asked questions, and they’ll be anxious for information. Start your communications with them.
- Third-party corroboration is critical. So far, Tylenol has gotten that from scientists, the National Consumers League and the Wall Street Journal opinion page, which in a headline asserted that the “acetaminophen link to autism is based on weak evidence pushed by RFK Jr. and his legal allies.”
Ad Age subscribers can see the entire article here.
For other pieces on Tylenol’s response and crisis communications best practices check out The Darden Report, PR Week, CommPRO and Adweek.