Not Cool: Listerine Recalls Agent Cool Blue Mouthwash
Posted by Administrator (admin) on Apr 26 2007 at 8:28 PM
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April 16, 2007

By Constantine von Hoffman

BOSTON -- McNeil-PPC’s recall of every bottle of its Listerine Agent Cool Blue could mean the end for what had been a very promising brand for the company. The recall, announced late last week, involves all of the approximately four million bottles of the children’s plaque-detecting rinse manufactured since its introduction last year.

In a press release, the company said it was issuing the recall because “the preservative system is not adequate against certain microorganisms.” The company has not returned repeated calls asking for comment. The recall appears to have been a voluntary one on the part of the company and not instigated by the FDA. In its release, McNeil, which is a division of Johnson & Johnson, said there had been no reports of “adverse health events” so far. It also said, “the risk of illness in healthy individuals following use of this product is very low. However, there could be a significant health risk to individuals with weakened or suppressed immune systems.”

Although the product had been doing well for McNeil, the company will be hard-pressed to bring it back, according to analysts. Because it’s a new brand, it hasn’t built up much loyalty among consumers. Additionally, the fact that it posed a medical threat—no matter how minor—to children also works against it.

“You don’t get three strikes and you’re out with products for children,” said Jennifer Sheehey, who heads up the crisis management practice for Cone Communications in Boston. “Parents aren’t very forgiving about something like this.”

Sheehey, who doesn’t expect the recall to have much impact on parent brand Listerine, said McNeil is doing a good job handling the recall. “They’re doing a lot of the right things so far,” she said. “It’s a voluntary recall and they’re shutting everything down to deal with this.” She said it was also in the brand’s favor that there have been no reports in the press of anyone being made ill.

However, she believes there are a few things McNeil could be doing better. “There have been some complaints on blogs about the difficulty of getting to a real person” when calling the consumer help line, she said. Perhaps more importantly the language of the release announcing the recall is very vague. While the company has made clear that the health risk is low, it isn’t clear exactly what that risk was or how and why it was discovered. “There are a lot of holes in their story,” she said.

McNeil spent $6 million on advertising for Cool Agent Blue last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. It spent $5 million on it in the first two months of this year.