Johnson & Johnson’s baby products have been dominating the market for years and the company has “rightfully” earned the title of “the #1 baby skin care brand”. They pride themselves on the ingredients used in their products and even offer on their website an explanation of the science behind the safety of these ingredients. This raises the question- if these products are marketed as being so safe, then how come Johnson & Johnson has faced around 2,000 lawsuits regarding links between ovarian cancer and their bestselling baby powder?
Peled, Dan. Johnson and Johnson’s Baby Powder. 03 Mar. 2016. N.p.
The most recent case was by a woman named Deborah Giannecchini who filed a suit against the pharmaceutical giant accusing them of “negligent conduct” in both making and marketing its baby powder. She was originally diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 and believed that the reason was to be her daily use of the talcum powder. Although Johnson & Johnson declared their product to be completely harmless, Deborah ended up winning the suit and received a 70 million dollar award. Earlier this year there were two other similar lawsuits against the company that resulted in 127 million dollars worth of rewards. In an article in the global news, Jim Onder, an attorney for the plaintiff said, “We are pleased the jury did the right thing. They once again reaffirmed the need for Johnson & Johnson to warn the public of the ovarian cancer risk associated with its product.” Clearly the company is not upholding their corporate social responsibility and is failing to warn consumers of the health risks.
The problem with the company is that they are wrongfully marketing their baby powder to be as safe as can be. They are failing to admit that talcum powder can increase chances of ovarian cancer in women and therefore are not providing any type of warning. This has had a huge effect on the public and even someone like me, who generally enjoys the multi-purpose powder, will refuse to engage in business with them anymore. Ovarian cancer is not a risk I would like to take. Unless Johnson & Johnson starts to change their marketing techniques and perhaps packaging, I believe their brand name will suffer hugely.
The thing with these “giant” companies is that they seem to think they can get away with corporate social responsibility. Besides Johnson & Johnson, another example would be in Baiquan Wang’s blog “See Walmart’s CSR In Its Garbage”. In it, she talks about how Walmart was caught discarding food well before their best-before date and the corporation just dismissed the public concerns. Failure to admit these wrong-doings and ignoring concerns is neither ethical or responsible. Without a strong corporate social responsibility, companies will not have long-term success.
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