In 1982, perhaps the most famous instance of consumer-product crisis management
ID: 469301 • Letter: I
Question
In 1982, perhaps the most famous instance of consumer-product crisis management occurred. Seven people died after taking poisoned Tylenol capsules. Review the story at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-tylenol-murders
Johnson & Johnson immediately took 31 million bottles of its Tylenol brand off the shelves and stopped production and advertising. The company worked with police and offered a $100,000 reward. The killings remain unsolved.
Eventually, the company reintroduced Tylenol with new tamper-resistant packaging. The brand recovered, and the company’s response is regarded as one of most successful examples of crisis management in marketing history.
In contrast..
The BP Gulf oil spill is often talked about as a PR disaster. This site has a great write-up, including a five point summary of "lessons learned": http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/07/5-digital-pr-lessons-from-bps-oil-spill-response193/
How is it that these two incidents were handled so differently by both companies?
Is this a case of an older time (Tylenol in 1982) and less complicated communication channels, or does there seem to be a fundamental difference in how each company reacted?
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Explanation / Answer
Crisis management is a crucial part of any organization's management system.There is a huge difference between the crisis management of Johnson & Johnson and BP.There are various factors responsible for this difference.Yes,one of the factor is the older time and less complicated communication channels in case of Johnson &Johnson.Because at that time the communication channel were very clear,there was a relatively less effect of media on such issues.On the other hand in case of HP the social media play a very influencial role in the communication process,which to some extent adversely effected the reputation of BP.There were various negative comments and discussion about the BP oil spill crisis in the social media,which the company PR authorities of course tried to handle positively.But it could not help the company get its image back to the people.
Again,another important factor that contributed to the crisis management of the two companys is the way they reacted to the incident.Bothof the company's reactions were very different to their respective crisis.Johnson & Johnson took a prompt action to solve the issue as soon as it was discovered.It recalled its products and stopped production immediately,though it was not a common practice for companies at that time.On the other hand,Bp reacted very defensively to the situation.Various negative comments and twitts are made in the social media by the company officials which very much affected its image.Instead of trying to fix the problem as sson as possible Bp emphasized more on responsibility bearing fight
Social media and modern and sofisticated communication channel are a blessing in these modern days but it must be handled properly.If not it may result as a curse