Johnson & Johnson continues to implode. The company has managed to completely fuck up decades of goodwill. In the last year, J&J has had four major product recalls – each of them has been bungled badly. Last year, the company waited over a year before notifying the FDA of manufacturing problems.
So Johnson & Johnson finds itself in the midst of yet another product recall – and they are doing their best to handle it poorly. In this latest round, J&J only took two weeks in getting the word out to parents. Just like in the past (like when J&J decided to sue the Red Cross), J&J communicated its product recalls on its official blog – J&J By The Way. Once again, J&J has demonstrated its communications strategy – communications is a “by the way” afterthought. Naturally, on the JNJBTW blog, J&J spokesman Marc Monseau has suffered through an onslaught of angry parents. And why shouldn’t parents be angry?
J&J has mismanaged its manufacturing for years (and now everyone knows it). J&J’s communications strategy continues to be…well…an afterthought. Issuing a press release late on a Friday night to ensure minimal notice is not the hallmark of an ethical company. J&J seems more concerned with getting the bottles out of the hands of parents – not to ensure that kids don’t take the medicines, but to limit the company’s future liability in lawsuits.
I feel badly for J&J. Like nearly everyone in America, J&J has been there my entire life. It’s sad to see the company descend from one of America’s most admired and most ethical, into one that has abandoned its creed in favor of greed.
