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Authors: Scott Bartz
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the plant.
Schaffer knew next to nothing about the manufacturing process for Tylenol, and he was unqualified to offer a relevant opinion about the location where the tamperings had occurred. He knew nothing about how McNeil handled the raw materials used in making Tylenol, how the Tylenol was shipped, or how it was handled during distribution. He even failed to inquire about where the Tylenol implicated in the poisonings had been stored from the time it was manufactured in the spring of 1982 until it was shipped to Illinois in late August. With tampering at the McNeil plants ruled out, the Tylenol task force turned its attention to the only scenario it had ever really considered, namely, that someone had put cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules into the bottles in the local retail stores.
8
________
J&J and the FBI
Company surveys taken before the Tylenol murders showed that less than one percent of consumers knew that Johnson & Johnson owned the company that made Tylenol. Shortly after the poisonings, however, more than 47 percent of those surveyed were aware of that fact.
“One of the things that was bothering me,” said James Burke, “is the extent to which Johnson & Johnson was becoming deeply involved in the affair. The public was learning that Tylenol was a Johnson & Johnson product, and the dilemma was how to protect the name and not incite whoever did this to attack other Johnson & Johnson products.” On the second day of the investigation, Burke had become so concerned about the Tylenol problem that he elevated the management of the crisis to the corporate level and took control of managing the company’s response himself.
According to Larry Foster, the public relations department had complete support from management to immediately make the first important decision that pointed Johnson & Johnson’s public relations program in the right direction. That decision, said Foster, was for the company to cooperate fully with all types of news media.
In reality, only a few J&J employees talked to the press, and only in a tightly controlled environment. They talked to reporters on a one-on-one basis, typically over the telephone. J&J never held a press conference about the Tylenol poisonings or took questions in an open forum about the tampering incident. The public has no way of knowing just how many important questions J&J spokespersons refused to answer. James Burke did make appearances on 60 Minutes and the Donahue Show , but he made those appearances weeks after the murders for the sole purpose of promoting Tylenol in its new tamper-resistant packaging.
Johnson & Johnson established close relations with the Chicago police, the FBI, and the FDA. In this way, according to a public relations executive from Burson-Marsteller, the company could play a role in searching for the person who poisoned the Tylenol capsules and could help prevent further tamperings. The rock-solid relationship that Johnson & Johnson had with the FBI started at the top with FBI Director William Webster, and went all the way down to the FBI agents in Chicago. Johnson & Johnson’s employment of retired FBI agents in its Worldwide Security division enhanced this cozy relationship. J&J further strengthened its ties with the FBI Office in Chicago by hiring Intertel Security Systems, a private detective agency in Norwood, Illinois, to “investigate” the Tylenol tamperings. Many of Intertel’s private investigators were former FBI agents.
J&J routinely hired private investigators when it wanted to remove certain Johnson & Johnson products from the marketplace. J&J hired private investigators and former FBI agents in the 1980s through the 2000s to track down, and remove from the marketplace, a variety of diverted J&J products, including diabetes test strips, toothbrushes, and Procrit (an anti-anemia drug). J&J executives did not hire Intertel to help track down the Tylenol killer, but rather to track down and destroy the Tylenol
Schaffer knew next to nothing about the manufacturing process for Tylenol, and he was unqualified to offer a relevant opinion about the location where the tamperings had occurred. He knew nothing about how McNeil handled the raw materials used in making Tylenol, how the Tylenol was shipped, or how it was handled during distribution. He even failed to inquire about where the Tylenol implicated in the poisonings had been stored from the time it was manufactured in the spring of 1982 until it was shipped to Illinois in late August. With tampering at the McNeil plants ruled out, the Tylenol task force turned its attention to the only scenario it had ever really considered, namely, that someone had put cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules into the bottles in the local retail stores.
8
________
J&J and the FBI
Company surveys taken before the Tylenol murders showed that less than one percent of consumers knew that Johnson & Johnson owned the company that made Tylenol. Shortly after the poisonings, however, more than 47 percent of those surveyed were aware of that fact.
“One of the things that was bothering me,” said James Burke, “is the extent to which Johnson & Johnson was becoming deeply involved in the affair. The public was learning that Tylenol was a Johnson & Johnson product, and the dilemma was how to protect the name and not incite whoever did this to attack other Johnson & Johnson products.” On the second day of the investigation, Burke had become so concerned about the Tylenol problem that he elevated the management of the crisis to the corporate level and took control of managing the company’s response himself.
According to Larry Foster, the public relations department had complete support from management to immediately make the first important decision that pointed Johnson & Johnson’s public relations program in the right direction. That decision, said Foster, was for the company to cooperate fully with all types of news media.
In reality, only a few J&J employees talked to the press, and only in a tightly controlled environment. They talked to reporters on a one-on-one basis, typically over the telephone. J&J never held a press conference about the Tylenol poisonings or took questions in an open forum about the tampering incident. The public has no way of knowing just how many important questions J&J spokespersons refused to answer. James Burke did make appearances on 60 Minutes and the Donahue Show , but he made those appearances weeks after the murders for the sole purpose of promoting Tylenol in its new tamper-resistant packaging.
Johnson & Johnson established close relations with the Chicago police, the FBI, and the FDA. In this way, according to a public relations executive from Burson-Marsteller, the company could play a role in searching for the person who poisoned the Tylenol capsules and could help prevent further tamperings. The rock-solid relationship that Johnson & Johnson had with the FBI started at the top with FBI Director William Webster, and went all the way down to the FBI agents in Chicago. Johnson & Johnson’s employment of retired FBI agents in its Worldwide Security division enhanced this cozy relationship. J&J further strengthened its ties with the FBI Office in Chicago by hiring Intertel Security Systems, a private detective agency in Norwood, Illinois, to “investigate” the Tylenol tamperings. Many of Intertel’s private investigators were former FBI agents.
J&J routinely hired private investigators when it wanted to remove certain Johnson & Johnson products from the marketplace. J&J hired private investigators and former FBI agents in the 1980s through the 2000s to track down, and remove from the marketplace, a variety of diverted J&J products, including diabetes test strips, toothbrushes, and Procrit (an anti-anemia drug). J&J executives did not hire Intertel to help track down the Tylenol killer, but rather to track down and destroy the Tylenol
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