1982 Tylenol murders

Tylenol murders
File:Extra Strength Tylenol and Tylenol PM.jpg
Type 1	poisoning, Black marketing
Type 2	social scare, fear, Money scam
Year	1982
Date	09/29
Place	Chicago, Illinois
Numbers	9, 11
Perp	James Lewis
Linked to
• media	• Public relations
Information
Fakeologist
Hoaxbusters
Cluesforum

In September 1982, seven people in Illinois died after taking potassium cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. Johnson & Johnson’s CCO Larry Foster and advisor Harold Burson counseled CEO James Burke through the crisis. Working with the police, FDA and media, they issued a nationwide recall, delivered warnings and created new tamper-proof packaging. Johnson & Johnson’s handling of the tragedy set a standard and remains a model for effective crisis response and corporate responsibility.

Clues

• The story shows a cooperation between state and market institutions which is in these dimensions new.
• The story runs in the media as medical mystery.
• The reporting does not show much interest for the alleged victims of the poisoning.
• The reporting shows much more interest in the crisis management that the Coorporation Johnson & Johnson performed together with police, Federal Drug Administration and media.
• The story went down in PR curricula as model for crisis communication and is till today presented as that.
• The fakeological hypothesis is, that this event was designed to test the cooperation between market and state institutions, in order to expand the field for psyops, which was officialy under the control of the military apparatus.
• The event leads to a change in the legal frame for medics sales.
• The event is reused in later psyops.