Jack the Ripper is the most famous serial killer in history, and the name may have been written in a newsroom to sell newspapers. In 1888, a red-ink letter signed "Jack the Ripper" arrived at a London news agency, and the men who led the investigation later said they believed a journalist wrote it.

In this episode of Killer Marketing, Emily Rask follows the Whitechapel murders from the Leather Apron panic to the Dear Boss letter, then into the marketing behind them: The Star's circulation boom, the hoax letters that kept the name alive, the waxworks show and the museum that cashed in, and the DNA claims still being sold as a solved case. It also remembers the five women whose names were buried under his: Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Kate Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly.

Behind every crime, there's a killer campaign.

Follow Killer Marketing on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/killermarketingpodcast From the creator of Lies We Bought: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought

• Casebook: Jack the Ripper, "Dear Boss Letter": https://www.casebook.org/ripper_letters/dear_boss_letter/
• Casebook, Sir Robert Anderson, "The Lighter Side of My Official Life": https://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/rps.lighterside.10.html
• Jack the Ripper Tour, "Was It A Journalist That Created The Name Jack The Ripper?": https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/generalnews/who-created-jack-the-ripper/
• Casebook, "Thomas Bulling and the Myth of the London Journalist": https://www.casebook.org/dissertations/dst-bulling2.html
• Jack the Ripper Tour, "T. P. O'Connor, Founder of The Star Newspaper": https://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/generalnews/t-p-oconnor-the-star/
• OUP Blog, "The journalist who created Jack the Ripper": https://blog.oup.com/2019/10/journalist-created-jack-the-ripper/
• Fox News, "Jack the Ripper letter mystery solved? Expert sheds new light on notorious case": https://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/01/30/jack-ripper-letter-mystery-solved-expert-sheds-new-light-on-notorious-case
• Literary London Society, "Review of The Five by Hallie Rubenhold": https://www.literarylondon.org/lambert-rubenholdreview/
• Eastlondonlines, "Angry crowd turn up in protest as Jack the Ripper hijacks plans for women's history museum": https://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2015/08/angry-crowd-turn-up-in-protest-as-jack-the-ripper-hijacks-plans-for-womens-history-museum/
• Journal of Forensic Sciences, "Expression of Concern: Forensic Investigation of a Shawl Linked to the Jack the Ripper Murders": https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1556-4029.15595

In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol laced with cyanide, and the killer was never caught. Someone poisoned bottles right on store shelves, and Johnson & Johnson had days to decide whether its most profitable brand would survive. What the company did next became the crisis PR playbook brands still follow more than forty years later.

Next episode: Jack the Ripper, and how newspapers turned a killer into a brand. Out October 15.

Killer Marketing is a Lies We Bought podcast, hosted by Emily Rask.

Follow Killer Marketing: https://www.instagram.com/killermarketingpodcast Follow Lies We Bought: https://www.instagram.com/lieswebought

Sources: WTTW, "The Tylenol Murders Remain One of Chicago's Most Haunting Mysteries": https://www.wttw.com/chicago-mysteries/mystery/tylenol-murders-one-of-chicagos-most-haunting-mysteries HISTORY, "How the 1982 Tylenol Poisonings Nearly Canceled Halloween": https://www.history.com/articles/extra-strength-tylenol-poisonings-1982 PBS NewsHour, "How the Tylenol murders of 1982 changed the way we consume medication": https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/tylenol-murders-1982 Knowledge at Wharton, "Tylenol and the Legacy of J&J's James Burke": https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/tylenol-and-the-legacy-of-jjs-james-burke/ Retail Brew, "Total recall: How the Tylenol murders of 1982 ushered in tamper-resistant packaging": https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2022/10/13/total-recall-how-the-tylenol-murders-of-1982-ushered-in-tamper-resistant-packaging Washington Post (1982 archive), "Tylenol Is Reintroduced In Triple-Sealed Package": https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/11/12/tylenol-is-reintroduced-in-triple-sealed-package/1831aa9c-be08-4c93-a4de-b54e8c0428ed/ Templock, "FDA Tamper-Evident Packaging Requirements": https://www.templock.com/resources/fda-tamper-evident-packaging-requirements Yahoo Finance, "Inefficient Market Theory: The Tylenol Poisoning Case": https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inefficient-market-theory-tylenol-poisoning-205335551.html Right Attitudes, "Tylenol Made a Hero of Johnson & Johnson": https://www.rightattitudes.com/2021/03/11/crisis-management-case-study-tylenol/ Journalism University, "Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol Crisis": https://journalism.university/media-ethics-and-laws/tylenol-crisis-ethical-management-lessons/