Public Relations (1553608).

Sean Cross

THE TYLENOL CRISIS, 1982

"The PR industry has an important role to play in helping companies identify and manage risks that could damage their reputation." What happened? In October of 1982, Tylenol, the leading pain-killer medicine in the United States at the time, faced a tremendous crisis when seven people in Chicago were reported dead after taking extra-strength Tylenol capsules. It was reported that an unknown suspect/s put 65 milligrams of deadly cyanide into Tylenol capsules, 10,000 more than what is necessary to kill a human.

The tampering occurred once the product reached the shelves. They were removed from the shelves, infected with cyanide and returned to the shelves. In 1982, Tylenol controlled 37 percent of its market with revenue of about $1.2 million. Immediately after the cyanide poisonings, its market share was reduced to seven percent. What did Johnson & Johnson do? As soon as the connection was made between the Tylenol capsules and the reported deaths, public announcements were made warning people about the consumption of the product. Although Johnson & Johnson knew they were not responsible for the tampering of the product, they assumed responsibility by ensuring public safety first and immediately recalled all products from the entire country which amounted to about 31 million bottles and a loss of more than $100 million dollars. Additionally, they halted all advertisement for the product. Once the product was removed from the market, Johnson & Johnson had to come up with a campaign to re-introduce its product and restore confidence back to the consumer. 1. Tylenol products were re-introduced containing a triple-seal tamper resistant packaging. 2. They offered a $2.50 off coupon on the purchase of their product. 3. They made a new pricing program that gave consumers up to 25% off the product.

Public Relations (1553608).

Sean Cross

THE EXXON CRISIS, 1989

A company must not only deal with the emergency but also do so with the entire nation, if not the entire world, looking on." John Holusha, NY Times
What happened? On March 24, 1989, Exxon was faced with a crisis when it spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Alaskas Prince William Sound with the Exxon Valdez oil tanker. Some species were slightly affected by the oil spill like the brown bear, but others like the harbor seals, sea otters and cormorants suffered a great loss in their population. Furthermore, Alaskas fisheries, national parks, beaches and forests were greatly affected, which in turn affected tourism.

It happened because one of the crew members was unable to properly maneuver the ship due to tiredness from work overload. Also, the crew master was under the influence of alcohol and could not give the proper directions to his crew. There was also an insufficient supply of trained crew members and the availability of inadequate equipment on the ship. What did Exxon do? Exxon waited a long time before responding to the oil spill and sending aid to Alaska. Exxons chairman, Lawrence G. Rawl, did not fly to Alaska until two weeks after the spill. Instead, he sent a team of individuals who were not trained in crisis management. This showed the public that Exxon didn't consider the spill a truly environmental problem. Exxon chose to communicate only to the people of the town of Valdez and not to the rest of the world. Exxons spokesman first answered the press with no comment after the spill. The public felt like the top management at Exxon was either hiding something or had not yet gathered all of the information. Exxon never took responsibility for what happened. Exxon completely failed at its PR task since it took a few days to send individuals to help clean up the oil spill in Alaska. It proved to the people of Alaska and the world that it did not care about the environment or the damage to the tourism and fishery industries in Alaska, which the country greatly depends on.