Kimberly-Clark Corp. is managing a crisis that if they do not handle well, could devastate their brand and future revenues. The Dallas based corporation and tampon manufacturer is reporting that  16,000 cases of infected tampons were stolen from their possession while they were being transported to a location at which they were going to be destroyed.

The thieves who stole the  infected tampons have reportedly sold them to retailers and those retailers could be anywhere.

The major problem on Kimberly-Clark Corp.’s hands is that they have no way of telling which stores have the infected merchandise.

According to the company, 16,000 cases of Kotex Natural Balance Security Tampons tested positive for materials like metallic particles or increased levels of bacteria, all of which can be harmful. The merchandise was stolen while on its way to be destroyed by a company in Oklahoma.

The intention was to destroy the affected merchandise between October 2011 and June 2012 but it was intercepted by thieves.

Kimberly-Clark Corp.’s spokesman, Bob Brand, spoke to news outlets saying,

“We have no idea how the product was shipped or stored once it was stolen, so we’re advising people not to use it at all. We consider it all unsafe.”

Even though the tainted merchandise is out in the market, Kimberly-Clark Corp. has not received any complaints in relation to the tainted tampons. They are trying to buy back the infected merchandise.

Brand told news outlets,

“We think the prospect is low it may have reached consumers, just out of an abundance of caution we want to make sure that folks are aware of what may be the situation and they check their cartons to make sure they don’t have one of the impacted lock codes.”

–The 360 experiment