In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol laced with cyanide, and the killer was never caught. Someone poisoned bottles right on store shelves, and Johnson & Johnson had days to decide whether its most profitable brand would survive. What the company did next became the crisis PR playbook brands still follow more than forty years later.

Next episode: Jack the Ripper, and how newspapers turned a killer into a brand. Out October 15.

Killer Marketing is a Lies We Bought podcast, hosted by Emily Rask.

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Sources: WTTW, "The Tylenol Murders Remain One of Chicago's Most Haunting Mysteries": https://www.wttw.com/chicago-mysteries/mystery/tylenol-murders-one-of-chicagos-most-haunting-mysteries HISTORY, "How the 1982 Tylenol Poisonings Nearly Canceled Halloween": https://www.history.com/articles/extra-strength-tylenol-poisonings-1982 PBS NewsHour, "How the Tylenol murders of 1982 changed the way we consume medication": https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tylenol-murders-1982 Knowledge at Wharton, "Tylenol and the Legacy of J&J's James Burke": https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/tylenol-and-the-legacy-of-jjs-james-burke/ Retail Brew, "Total recall: How the Tylenol murders of 1982 ushered in tamper-resistant packaging": https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2022/10/13/total-recall-how-the-tylenol-murders-of-1982-ushered-in-tamper-resistant-packaging Washington Post (1982 archive), "Tylenol Is Reintroduced In Triple-Sealed Package": https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/11/12/tylenol-is-reintroduced-in-triple-sealed-package/1831aa9c-be08-4c93-a4de-b54e8c0428ed/ Templock, "FDA Tamper-Evident Packaging Requirements": https://www.templock.com/resources/fda-tamper-evident-packaging-requirements Yahoo Finance, "Inefficient Market Theory: The Tylenol Poisoning Case": https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inefficient-market-theory-tylenol-poisoning-205335551.html Right Attitudes, "Tylenol Made a Hero of Johnson & Johnson": https://www.rightattitudes.com/2021/03/11/crisis-management-case-study-tylenol/ Journalism University, "Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol Crisis": https://journalism.university/media-ethics-and-laws/tylenol-crisis-ethical-management-lessons/