A study of consumer brand perception finds "a great reservoir of goodwill" remains for Tylenol despite the manufacturing problems and recalls that have haunted the Johnson & Johnson brand in 2010.

Consumers surveyed July 1-7 rated the acetaminophen brand comparably to Pfizer's Advil (ibuprofen) on several measures of loyalty, purchase intent and perception of "warmth and competence."

The results suggest reports of Tylenol's demise have been exaggerated widely and J&J's OTC quality control issues may not be generating much consumer alarm and distrust after all.

The Relational Capital Group, a business advisory and research firm, joined with Princeton University social psychologists in conducting the Internet study of 1,042 U.S. consumers.

Eight well-known consumer products and services brands were evaluated based on their warmth and competence - criteria established as universal dimensions of human social perception, according to the researchers.

In addition to the OTC pain reliever brands, the study recorded reactions to McDonald's , Burger King , BP , Shell , Tropicana and Minute Maid .

"We've found strong statistical correlation between consumers' perceptions of each brand's warmth and competence and their intent to purchase and remain loyal to the brand," said Susan T. Fiske of Princeton's Department of Psychology.

Chris Malone, chief advisory officer for Newtown Square, Pa.-based RCG, said the findings indicate consumers have not turned en masse against Tylenol or J&J's other recalled brands, including Benadryl , Motrin and Zyrtec .

"Whether it goes back to the cyanide poisoning back in 1982 or the steady string of communication and brand experience that people have had - there is just a great reservoir of goodwill built up for the Tylenol brand," Malone said in an interview.

He added consumers appear to view J&J's recalls as a result of short-term failures in competence rather than "the company acting with ill intentions."

Consumers Still Warm To Tylenol

Compared to BP and Toyota - brands that elicited negative responses as they deal with ongoing public relations crises - Tylenol posted surprising results.

When offered statements and asked how well they describe Tylenol on a scale from 1 to 10, study participants ranked the brand 8 for "Is honest and trustworthy," 7.8 for "Acts with your best interests in mind" and 7.7 for "Is worth your purchase investment."

Advil scored comparably to Tylenol on those three statements, though both brands fell short of the consumer ratings for pain reliever products as a category.

Regarding purchase intent and loyalty, however, Tylenol posted statistically significant advantages over Advil, according to the researchers.

On a scale from 1 to 10 - "definitely would not purchase" to "definitely would purchase" - study participants rated Tylenol a 7.4 on a question of purchase intent over the next 30 days, compared to 7.2 for Advil.

Additionally, on a similar scale from 1 to 10 regarding their "strong preference and loyalty" toward the brands, respondents rated Tylenol a 6.6 compared to 6.4 for Advil.

"Despite widespread shortages of Tylenol product due to the closure of its manufacturing facility, as well as heavy efforts by retailers and competitors to fill the void with alternative products, Tylenol purchase intent and brand loyalty significantly exceeded that for Advil," the researchers write.

"Any Brand Can Fall"

The survey questions did not mention the Tylenol recalls, but Malone said he would not expect the brand to have scored lower had participants been prompted to consider current events. To some extent, media attention to the BP oil spill and the faulty braking in some Toyota vehicles has overshadowed J&J's problems, he added.

Tim Calkins, a branding consultant and professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, said the tangible problems plaguing BP and Toyota generated much more consumer outrage than J&J's recalled OTCs, which thus far have caused no serious illnesses or deaths.

"You don't see people out there really in the blogging world, at least that I've seen, blogging aggressively about J&J's activities," Calkins said.

"They're more complicated, they're a little harder to understand, and indeed, it's not as simple as people getting killed or birds getting covered in oil."

Malone allowed J&J's handling of its problems "from a PR standpoint and a transparency standpoint has not been good."

However, whether due to an adequately swift removal from the market, consumer perception that the problems are "relatively minor," or whatever the cause, consumer confidence in the brand "has not yet suffered," he noted.

Calkins said Tylenol's strength as a brand is evident in the study results, but warned if the company fails to fix the problems surrounding it, "any brand can fall with enough bad news."

J&J is remedying its manufacturing problems and reorganizing quality control leadership, but by no means is it out of the woods yet.

J&J executives likely will return to Capitol Hill in the near future to face additional questioning from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The firm also faces lawsuits and federal investigations over its manufacturing issues (¹ Also see "J&J Keeps Expectations Conservative For OTC Manufacturing Remediation" - Pink Sheet, 9 August, 2010.).

Sales for Tylenol tablets, skewed by the recalls, fell 21.5 percent to $223.7 million in the 52 weeks ended Aug. 8, according to SymphonyIRI Group data for supermarkets, drugstores and mass merchandisers, excluding Walmart.

By contrast, sales of Advil tablets surpassed Tylenol in the internal analgesic category, growing 3.6 percent to $300.2 million over the same period.

Follow-Up Study To Track Perception Changes

Although the Tylenol brand remains robust, Malone noted the study data reflect just a snapshot in time rather than how consumer perceptions may have changed over the course of the recalls.

RCG plans in September to begin follow-up research that will evaluate evolving warmth and competence perceptions of some of the brands from the first survey, alongside additional brands in the organic/natural foods space - Honest Tea , Naked Juice and Kashi , for example.

- Dan Schiff ( ² d.schiff@elsevier.com )

Tylenol Yields Positive Results In Consumer Perception Study Despite Recall

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