This is in conversation from Apple News.
I'm Shamita Basu.
Today, the dark secrets of Johnson and Johnson.
From the start of your life,
it's. Been a part of your life.
This is a 1976 ad for Johnson's baby powder.
Johnson's baby powder is a feeling you never outgrow.
For more than a century,
the JJ brand has billed itself as one of the most trusted companies in American history.
And baby powder was its most iconic product.
The scent of baby powder is the most recognized fragrance on the planet.
That's investigative journalist Gardner Harris.
It's this extraordinary branding tool because of course,
when you're a baby and you smell this smell,
it's delivered to you by your mother, the most important person in your life.
So from infancy, you associate this smell with love and trust.
And so it's this branding tool that was a shield for Johnson and Johnson forever.
As it would turn out, JJ's talc based baby powder was contaminated with asbestos,
a dangerous mineral that can cause cancer.
And that wasn't the only product that the company found to have major issues.