Killer Marketing

Killer Marketing

By Emily RaskBusinessTrue CrimeHistoryMarketing
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Killer Marketing episodes

  • Tylenol Murders: Why Your Medicine Is Sealed

    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/killermarketingpodcast

    Follow 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-mysteries
    HISTORY, "How the 1982 Tylenol Poisonings Nearly Canceled Halloween": https://www.history.com/articles/extra-strength-tylenol-poisonings-1982
    PBS NewsHour, "How the Tylenol murders of 1982 changed the way we consume medication": https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tylenol-murders-1982
    Knowledge 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-packaging
    Washington 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-requirements
    Yahoo Finance, "Inefficient Market Theory: The Tylenol Poisoning Case": https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inefficient-market-theory-tylenol-poisoning-205335551.html
    Right 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/

    13 min
  • Trailer: Where True Crime Meets Marketing

    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.

    2 min

About Killer Marketing

From the publisher's feed

Killer Marketing tells the true crime stories behind the products you use every day, from the Tylenol murders that put a seal on every medicine bottle to the poisoned Halloween candy myth that sent…