While the brand remained loyal to defending its products, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in 2019 a shipment of Johnson & Johnson products has to be recalled as the products tested positive for a trace amount of asbestos.
Reuters
Ever since most of us can remember, Johnson & Johnson has been a household brand. Founded over 135 years ago, Johnson & Johnson specialised in baby products, and throughout the years, the brand was the most well-known and well-loved product in every single household that had a newborn. To this day, the strong brand name holds a place in people’s hearts and homes, even after all the claims and court disputes the brand has been through in recent times.
While the pharmaceutical giant managed to hold a place in the hearts of many throughout the past decades, everything changed following around 38,000 lawsuits that claimed the talc in the Johnsons Baby powder caused ovarian cancer. Following these lawsuits, people even took to social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to share their negative experiences with the brand. The conversation seemed to be heavily split in the middle as half the people claims Johnson & Johnson brand was not safe to use while others were hell-bent on defending the brand name - whether this was due to brand loyalty after years of use or due to some customers not facing any negative reactions to the brand’s products is still an unanswered question.
Regardless of what the truth may be, following these lawsuits and claims of cancer, Johnson & Johnson started facing major losses, close to approximately USD 1 billion right after the rumours started. Regardless of how negative the claims got on different platforms, the brand Johnson & Johnson has stuck by their claims that their products, including the baby powder, were safe to use and would not cause cancer.
While the brand remained loyal to defending its products, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in 2019 a shipment of Johnson & Johnson products has to be recalled as the products tested positive for a trace amount of asbestos. And whether it was due to this reason or not, in the following year, 2020, talc-based products ended in North America.
To this day, the company claims that their products, regardless of the usage of talc in them are safe to use and that the claims surrounding their baby powder being a cause of cancer is false with a lack of scientific backup.
However, whether it was due to sheer pressure or any other unspecified reasons, by 2023 the company had announced that they are going to discontinue the usage of talc in its products. In addition to the announcement regarding the discontinuation of talc in their products, Johnson & Johnson also announced that they will be switching talc with cornstarch in the future.
In addition to this, in April 2023, the company also agreed to pay a total of USD 8.9 billion over 25 years in order to settle all future and past claims regarding the harmful causes of talc in their products. While the company has agreed to pay this settlement, they have yet again made it very clear that this settlement is not an admission of any wrongdoings as they continue to believe the usage of talc in its products was not harmful.
According to ABC News, the declaration was made following a federal appeals court's ruling in January that the business could not utilize the bankruptcy court to settle almost 38,000 claims alleging that the talc in its products caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.
Throughout this lawsuit and dispute, it is no surprise that the company may have lost thousands of customers worldwide.
