Reputation Management Online

Johnson & Johnson,  the Fortune 500 company, which has a legacy of over 125 years in family health and baby products was caught in an embarrassing situation  as more reports of children’s drugs recalls dropped in. From being a monopoly product in child care, J & J  has become just one of the many choices in child care product brands for the consumers, overnight! The  media has started to analyze the reputation and the brand name thread bare and the consumers are taking that extra while to choose their brand instead of  endorsing J & J blindly as they had been doing all these days.

The recall included children formulations including Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec sold in over 12 countries including the US. The company came up with a prompt apology for the recall and halted the production  at the factory under the scanner as more muck kept tumbling out!

An analyst opined, “You’ve got a company that’s considered one of the premier companies, that’s spent something like 100 years building its reputation…This is the kind of thing that can hurt that.”

Johnson & Johnson has always been touted as a model in the consumer products industry, well known for its fool proof reputation management and PR policies . The proficient handling of the Tylenol scare in 1982 in which seven people in Chicago died after taking capsules that had been laced with cyanide, still remains fresh in the minds of many. However the fact that it  was not the company’s fault and  no one was charged in that case, came as a face saver for the reputation of J & J .

However the latest incident involving its McNeil unit has landed J & J on a sticky wicket as the recall issues  clamor at  the   problems at the plant and its operation.  Johnson & Johnson will have to roll up the sleeves in countering the apprehensions of the  consumer whether they should shell out more for name brand children’s medicines when they do not have any assurance of quality and also when  they have other low cost brands in market.

We at Reputation Management For.com feel that J & J has to set out on a damage control exercise before the social networks get a wind of the issue and take it far and wide. As the customers depend on search engines to finalise their brand choice, J & J has to bring back the lost confidence among its consumers to be the favorite family brand yet again!

• J&J’s Tylenol recall scores an ‘A’ in crisis management