It’s hard to imagine a public-relations debacle worse than the one Facebook is in now, but it isn’t impossible: The 1982 Tylenol murders provided a worst-case scenario for any company — and a crisis PR masterclass in corporate responsibility.
Someone (we still don’t know who) spiked dozens of bottles of Tylenol with cyanide in Chicago-area stores in 1982. Seven people died in a single day, including a 12-year-old girl. What the owner of Tylenol did next is the focus of our new “Shoot This Now” podcast. It’s an insane story that involves the Unabomber, the man who inspired “Mad Men,” and “Devil in the White City.”