While this ad is overtly American in style, it does remain true to the J&J credo written in 1943. Unusually, their credo dictates a hierarchy of different stakeholders that the company serves, putting patients at the top and investors at the bottom:

1. Doctors, nurses & patients
2. Suppliers & distributors
3. Employees, their families & the environment
4. Stockholders & the J&J business

The video comes from a well managed YouTube channel devoted to demonstrating the caring values of the brand and talking about products.

J&J Bonding Tip

Many brands around the world speak about care in their brand narratives – especially in the biotech industry. It’s not fair to say that all others pale by comparison, but few companies have been so consistent with a care message as Johnson & Johnson.

J&J has consistently focused on notions of the family, lifestyle improvement, the responsibility we have toward one another and an appreciation of the bonds between people.  J&J most dramatically demonstrated the hierarchy of needs and the responsibility they feel for society during the Tylenol cyanide murders when they pulled all bottles off the shelves within 48 hours worldwide after it was discovered that someone had tampered with bottles in Chicago tainting them with cyanide. J&J was praised for their rapid response and global breadth of action.

It’s worth noting that a care-narrative is really about defining a feeling of responsibility. It’s tempting to promote this as a feeling comparable to the moments of pleasure between parent and child. It’s probably most accurately defined when talking about changes in lifestyle as a time when our concerns shift and we need to consider others before ourselves (or appreciate others for doing the same). This thought brings us back to the J&J credo and the order in which the stakeholders are placed, putting all others in society before J&J and its investors.