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.
Follow Killer Marketing: https://www.instagram.com/killermarketingpodcastFollow Lies We Bought: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought
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-mysteriesHISTORY, "How the 1982 Tylenol Poisonings Nearly Canceled Halloween": https://www.history.com/articles/extra-strength-tylenol-poisonings-1982PBS NewsHour, "How the Tylenol murders of 1982 changed the way we consume medication": https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tylenol-murders-1982Knowledge 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-packagingWashington 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-requirementsYahoo Finance, "Inefficient Market Theory: The Tylenol Poisoning Case": https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inefficient-market-theory-tylenol-poisoning-205335551.htmlRight 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/

Killer Marketing is a true crime podcast with a twist, because every case comes with the marketing story that played out behind it. Hosted by Emily Rask, creator of Lies We Bought, each episode digs into real crimes, cover-ups, and scares, and how brands, headlines, and public fear shaped what we believed about them.
The first episode drops October 1st and goes back to the 1982 Tylenol murders, when seven people died from poisoned capsules, the killer was never caught, and the company behind the bottle pulled off one of the most famous comebacks in marketing history.
Follow Killer Marketing so you don't miss the premiere, and if you love finding out what brands never wanted you to know, check out Lies We Bought wherever you listen.