Tylenol Murders Essay

Opioid drugs are some of the most widespread pain medications that we have in this country; indeed, the fact is that opioid analgesic prescriptions have increased by over 300% from 1999 to 2010 (Mitch 989). Consequently, the number of deaths from overdose increased from 4000 to 16,600 a year in the same time frame (Mitch 989). This fact becomes even more frightening when you think about today; the annual number of fatal drug overdoses in the Unites States now surpasses that of motor vehicle deaths (Alexander 1865). Even worse, overdose deaths caused by opioids specifically exceed those attributed to both cocaine and heroin combined (Alexander 1865).

Crisis communication is the most important aspect of external and internal organization communication. This type of communication ranges from image restoration campaigns to employee turnover. In the articles that I have analyzed, I discovered many examples of crisis communications and its importance. I will discuss the Bridgestone-Firestone Corporation's image restoration campaign and explain Benoit's theory of image restoration. Also, I will discuss how crisis communications fits into public relations models. Two examples for discussion will be how supervisors should convey bad-news to their employees, and group communication within employee turnover. My last example for this discussion will be Bill Clinton's image repair discourse.

Victims number 6 and 10 were both found with matching substances, in their bloodstream and pocket, respectively, composed of 75.42% carbon, 6.63% hydrogen, 8.38% nitrogen, and 9.57% oxygen (Table 2). The steps described above to find the molecular formula were taken, and the molecular formula was found to be C21H22N2O2, or strychnine, commonly known as rat poisoning, a substance highly toxic to humans. From this data, it can be concluded that victim number 10 had murdered victim number 6 with the strychnine, as it was found in victim 10’s pocket and victim 6’s bloodstream, and anyone with any common knowledge or with the ability to read knows not to ingest rat poisoning, making it obvious that victim 6 was murdered. To identify the two victims, any other substances found on their person and in their personal luggage had to be identified and then matched with any prior knowledge of the victims. Victim 6, the murder victim, was found two other substances: C14H18N2O5 , aspartame, and C8H10N4O2 , caffeine, (page 7). Both of these two substances are found in Diet Coke, something the mother of Miley Cyrus said she never travelled without, (page 8). Furthermore, in the luggage of victim 10, a substance with the molecular formula of C12H17NO (page 7), also known as DEET or insect repellent was found. Based off of this evidence, coupled with family interviews, victim

The competitors of our product would be Tylenol. The product was developed by McNeil Laboratories. The major ingredient in their medication is acetaminophen. The company was bought by Johnson & Johnson in 1959. They began advertising to many health professionals. They are a company that has many different brands of drugs that serve children up to adults. Their product is said to work by being able to elevate the body’s overall pain threshold so that an individual who takes this medication will feel less pain.

The case starts in October 1982, when seven people in Chicago died after taking Tylenol, which is a pain killer medicine produced by Johnson and Johnson's subsidiary McNeil. Three victims from these were members of one family who died one by one on the same day. The reason of their death was diagnosed as in take of the extra strength Tylenol capsules taken from the same bottle. Other three deaths were also reported in Chicago due to intake of Tylenol.

B’s tolerance to opiates not considered, Mr. B.’s clinical situation not considered (i.e., Mr. B’s age and renal function), and knowledge deficit of opiates. Drilling down the data to identify the root cause of Mr. B’s death is the fifth step in conducting a RCA on Mr. B’s sentinel event. Upon analyzing the data, causative factors, and events leading to Mr. B’s sentinel event, the RCA team determined that the root cause of Mr. B’s death is a medication error. Mr. B was given an overdose of hydromorphone. The final step in a root cause analysis is to implement changes that will mitigate the root cause. Changes include educating the nursing staff about hydromorphone, such as side effects and adverse reactions,

This happened on two occasions, the first in 1982 and the second in 1986. These episodes could have been devastating to the McNeil company by drastic decrease in consumption of the Tylenol products. The McNeil company rallied to the situation to counter this possible decrease in consumption. According to "Laurels: The National Business Hall of Fame", Tylenol's share in the one billion dollar analgesic market commanded thirty-five percent of the market before the 1982 incident. At the time of these episodes, consumer trust was damaged and market share decreased to seven percent. By February 1983, Tylenol had regained a twenty-four percent share of the market(Diary of an Amazing Comeback). In the 1990's, Tylenol again reached its thirty-five percent of the market which at this time accounted for a two billion dollar market(Laurels: The National Business Hall of Fame, Fortune). By regaining their share of the market, this demonstrated that the consumers had faith in the McNeil company's ability to produce safe and trustworthy products, i.e. Tylenol, for their comfort and happiness.

When someone asked me what I thought a crisis was, the first examples that came to my mind was Hurricane Katrina, September 11, 2001. Once I began to think more of what the definition of a crisis would be, I know that it is the reaction of how someone reacts to a crisis event. Other examples may be suicide, homicide, domestic violence, and different traumas that one experiences. Once we began our discussions in class, I realized that a crisis and how one deals with a crisis, whether it is a natural, manmade or personal, effects each person differently. How that person handles the crisis, may have short term or long term effects that may lead to a mental illness. That is one of the points that I found very interesting, among other information we learned in class, along with the various speakers that we had.

Tylenol, an over the counter prescription product from Johnson & Johnson, was one of the top brands in the analgesic market. Within the company, it was also a large income earner that commanded nearly 15% of the company’s total profits. That being the case, the 1982 crisis was not only a big blow to the brand, but also to the company as a whole. The crisis jeopardized the company’s existence; putting at risk a multi million investment which the investors had a lot of faith in. Irrespective of whether the crisis was due to malicious acts from ill motivated criminals or not, the company had to act swiftly to counter the legal issues which were ensuing and mitigate huge impending losses. It was really a trying moment for the top management of Johnson & Johnson and more so to the CEO, James Burke, who faced the toughest test of his managerial career during this time. Though the crisis was amicably solved, there were some legal issues that were imminent and some valuable lessons learnt from the episode.

The market for acetaminophen was growing at a rate of 5:1 to that of aspirin. Studies had shown that the side-effects from acetaminophen were less than aspirin. Bristol-Myers could have used the change in consumer consumption pattern and the shifting demand between the 2 analgesic variants as a means for positioning Datril using an effective campaign strategy.

Even though people need their prescriptions, the abuse of them is getting out of control and we need to find a way to regulate it better,because it can destroy a family, cause some to become addicted, or even kill them. Prescription drugs are no joke, they can be worse than illegal drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and even heroin. The only difference is a doctor can prescribe these types of drugs. The problem we run into with prescription drugs is there is not enough being done to keep the person from becoming addicted or them selling to others. In 2007 2.5 million Americans abused just painkillers (Drug free world). That is not even including the other two types. Now it is starting to affect teens, one out of every ten teenagers admit to abusing a prescribed drug(Drug-free world).

Sealed bottles were tampered with and extra-strength Tylenol capsules were replaced with cyanide-laced capsules. These bottles were then resealed and placed on shelves of pharmacies in the Chicago area. Seven people died as a result. Tylenol was called upon to explain why its product was killing people.

The infamous Tylenol murders began September 30, 1982 when the world discovered that extra-strength Tylenol was used to murder three people. Days later, new stories emerged with three more people dying from cyanide filled Tylenol capsules. From the public perspective things were clear, a product used to heal people was now killing people. While Johnson & Johnson were able to weather the storm and even rebound, fate issued them another potentially-fatal blow on February 10, 1986, when a women died from

an unknown suspect put 65 milligrams of deadly cyanide into Tylenol capsules. It was assumed

According to Lillibridge and Klukken (1978), crisis is an event or situation that cause " 地n upset in equilibrium at the failure of one's traditional problem-solving approach which results in disorganization, hopelessness, sadness, confusion, and panic" (62). In the face of crisis, there is an urgent need to swing to action and communication is the only vehicle that can convey this message to everyone concerned. When crisis occur, communication challenges becomes worsened because the