Alicia Mosby
BA 311
Johnson's and Johnson's Dirty Secret
Summary: Johnson and Johnson have created a product called Tylenol. It is used to treat headaches, aches, and pains. Many people use this product as an alternative to aspirin. Tylenol does not upset the stomach lining like aspirin does. However there are a few cases where people overdose on this over the counter drug. This has caused people to become sick or even die from the overdose. It is apparently really easy to accidentally take too much and in the end hurt yourself or others. For parents giving out medicine to kids poses a threat because they could accidentally dish out too much medicine without knowing better. Tylenol has two very different kids medicine that gets easily confused because the two products look very similar. Parents purchase one for kids for their infants and then give them the “proper” dosage which is actually a lot for a newborn. This causes health risks such as liver damage, coma and death. This is not properly labeled on the container of medicine because Johnson and Johnson fear that proper labeling will drive down costs and that they will lose money in the long run. Over 100 law suits have been filed against Johnson and Johnson because of their Tylenol medicine poisoning. For Johnson and Johnson would rather pay settlements than have to lose profits from having a proper labeling system. Therefore consumers do not know the risks involved with the medicine that they are taking and that hurts the consumers.
Problems: The biggest problem Johnson and Johnson face according to this article is a lack of labeling. Consumers need a better labeling system that speaks about the side affects and risks of taking too much Tylenol. Consumers not knowing better take too much medicine and taking too much can hurt or kill a person. Overdosing is a big problem. If Johnson and Johnson added the side affects and risks then more people would be aware. This would not necessarily drive sales down it would just educate their consumers. It is important to be aware of the risks and side affects of any medicine because not knowing could kill you. The more you know, the more you are aware the more responsible you can act. This will also limit Johnson's and Johnson's liability. It would protect the company from further lawsuits. People would also see that Johnson and Johnson are doing the responsible thing. People would spread the word along with a good advertising campaign. Sales will go up because the more knowledge people have the more likely they will be to buy a brand they already love. They will be more aware and act accordingly. Parents can feel safer about the medicine they are giving their kids. They will know how to properly give out the correct dosage of medicine to their children without having to worry if they might accidentally overdose their kid. J&J fear they'd lose sales by educating their consumers when it might actually be the opposite.
Solutions: There are a number of ways Johnson and Johnson could handle this. They could just slap an extra warning listing the side affects and risks involved. They could also discuss how to accurately measure out proper dosages for kids. However something that they should consider is putting a log booklet in every bottle of Tylenol they sell. This way consumers can track when they took Tylenol last and the dosage. They should have a column for the date on which the medicine was took, the time and how much medicine was taken and maybe an area for notes. There should be a column for every pill in the bottle. This will allow parents and individuals alike to track when they took the medicine last. This would help stem overdose. This is because most people don’t remember how much or when they last took their medicine. Having a tracking guide would help the consumers out with that part. If they included the booklet and put an extra warning on their bottles consumers would have no room to sue for any reason. This would also cause sales to theoretically go up because people would see how to track and deliver the correct dosage of this powerful medicine. However if they want to do the bare minimum for protecting themselves from getting sued in the future is just putting a warning label. Most people don't read them. They already trust Tylenol to do its job. The warning would just be there to protect Johnson and Johnson from getting sued from people who misused the product for the future. But the best solution is to have a tracking booklet and more information available.