Reputation Management Online

Johnson & Johnson is doing what a company should be doing during a crisis. The top brass have decided to voluntarily recall the Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets due to complaints of mouldy smell that can cause nausea and sickness.

The Food and Drug Administration is a strict watchdog when it comes to complaints. The website has “Report a problem” tabs where anyone can make a complaint. If anyone’s on the watch it’s the FDA and so a company like J&J wouldn’t want these complaints to snowball into a reputation management nightmare.

The prudent thing to be done is to make a recall of the suspected lots, claim that “these are minor problems”, assure people “there is no cause for worry” and finally fix the problem. J&J has done just that.

We recommend this follow-up action: Keep up the positive content on the brand and ensure company reputation does not take a beating. Put out news everywhere that recalls are being made and that the problem is being fixed. Even follow up with news of freshly tested new batches of meds in the days to follow.

This is damage limitation at its best and crisis management that actually works!