Merck Anaylsis

The media began to reveal that Merck knew about the dangerous risks of Vioxx for four years before its recall. Merck denied these rumors and tried to take control of the situation. The CEO wrote numerous “Open Letters” to explain their side and attempt to re-establish Merck’s credibility. Merck’s “Open Letters” use these three strategies to try to counter the negative press over its handling of Vioxx: the CEO is identified as the author, which shows the level of commitment; highlighted positive words and phrasing to ensure the reader sees those facts; and spoke of Merck’s past commitment to consumers to show Merck’s credibility.

The CEO wrote Merck’s “Open Letters” to show his commitment to the issue and to re-establish Merck’s credibility as a company. When the President of a company addresses a situation it shows that the company is taking the time and care needed to resolve the situation. Raymond V. Gilmartin, the president of Merck at the time, wrote both open letters to demonstrate he was personally handling the Vioxx issue. This shows that the company is not letting just anyone in the company work on the resolution of the Vioxx issue. The CEO tries to show that he is personally handling the situation to gain trust in Merck’s consumers.

Merck’s letters highlight positive words and phrases to try to counter the negative press over its handling of Vioxx. “We extensively studied,” “we took additional steps, including conducting further prospective, controlled studies” and “we acted promptly” are bolded in the “Open Letters.” (Merck OL) to point out the main facts of the letter. Most of these statements were bolded to refute the statements made in the media. With this strategy, even when skimming the letters the reader will know the main point that the company is trying to get across, which is that they took the correct precautions and they reacted to the best of their abilities. Merck used this strategy to prove that they had knowledge of the...