The Tylenol Crisis: One Recall Is a Misfortune. Five Looks Like Carelessness
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)'s McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit seems determined to ruin its Tylenol franchise: The recall of children's medicines announced late last week by the FDA is actually the fifth Tylenol recall for one reason or another since 2009. To misquote Oscar Wilde, one Tylenol recall may be regarded as a misfortune. But five seems like carelessness.
The inability of J&J to get its act together on this flagship consumer brand is baffling: J&J's quick response to the 1982 cyanide sabotage of the Tylenol supply remains a case study of good corporate crisis response. Now Tylenol is looking like a case study in how to trash a brand through indolence and lack of attention to detail.
Here's the timeline of J&J's recent failings on Tylenol:
- October 2009 -- Public warned not to use Tylenol stolen from a Jacksonville, Fla., cargo terminal. (And while the theft wasn't J&J's fault, drug companies are supposed to secure their supply chains, especially since the cyanide caper.)
- September 2009 -- Recall of Tylenol contaminated by bacteria.
- December 2009 -- Recall of Tylenol and other brands due to mildew-like odor. J&J had been sitting on complaints about the smell since 2008.
- January 2010 -- Expanded recall of Tylenol and other brands due to mildew odor, which led to a Jan. 15, FDA warning letter over lousy manufacturing safeguards at McNeil's Tylenol plant.
- May 1, 2010 -- Children's Tylenol recalled over contamination with "black particles."
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