S.C. Johnson Threatens To Sue Over Misuse Of 'A Family Company'

RACINE, WI — Fisk Johnson, Chair and CEO of S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., says he's tired of lawmakers using his company's tagline to characterize a company involved in a massive pharmaceutical lawsuit.

This week, a judge in Oklahoma ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay a $572 million judgement to the state for its role in fueling the state's opioid crisis.

In a Patch report, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said Johnson & Johnson was a "kingpin" company that helped fuel the most devastating public health crisis in the state's history.

But Hunter drew the ire of Fisk Johnson again this week after he reportedly used S.C. Johnson's tagline "A Family Company" to describe Johnson & Johnson.

Fisk Johnson wrote Hunter, saying his company may file suit unless he stops.

"I have written to you on several occasions, "A Family Company" is the tagline of S.C. Johnson, not Johnson & Johnson. When you first used our tagline in May, and we reached out to your office, the Counsel for the State offered to make it clear on the record that S.C. Johnson is not associated with Johnson & Johnson in any manner," Fisk Johnson wrote this week.

Yet Hunter went on television just the other day and used "A Family Company" to describe Johnson & Johnson, Fisk Johnson said.

"...it was shocking and quite frankly outrageous that you still went on national television, again propagating this misinformation. There was simply no reason for that," he wrote.