J&J is No Longer the Crisis Management "Gold Standard"

Jonathan Bernstein crisis management, Crisis Response, reputation management

Johnson & Johnson’s most recent recall, their third in less than a year, could be a serious blow to the company. Still conducting crisis management to cope with the effects of their last recall, the lackluster effort the company has made to cope with this new case appears to be the last straw for many customers. Ad Age reports:

Recall-weary parents are taking to Facebook and Twitter to complain that Johnson & Johnson — a company that three decades ago was considered the gold standard of crisis communications — isn’t reacting sufficiently to their concerns, with some vowing to make the switch to generic brands.

On JnJBTW, a blog managed by one of Johnson & Johnson’s senior media-relations executives, Marc Monseau, for example, a parent named Evan D. Owen wrote: “I would highly recommend that J&J and McNeil Consumer Healthcare take a serious look at how you’ve handled this situation thus far. To be specific: Your recall announcement at 9:15 p.m. on a Friday night was deliberate to minimize media exposure. You know very well that consumers watch very little news during the weekend compared to a weekday.”

It is critical to J&J’s business that their customers can trust both the people running the organization and its products. With a myriad of generic and competing brands freely available on the market, its name and the reputation that stands with it are the only things keeping J&J on top.

The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/