Remember when you were a kid in the 70’s and early 80’s and there were those rumors that some of the brands in your house that had the Procter & Gamble Man on the Moon with Stars logo meant the company was actively involved in Satanism? Scary stuff!
You were stupefied that this could happen. How the hell (no pun intended) could ANYONE want to support Satanism? Say it isn’t so Mr. Clean. Say it isn’t so.
If you really, really, really did think about it though…there was something sort of creepy about Mr. Clean and thus, the tiniest possibility that this could be more than just an urban legend existed.
Well…let’s fast forward 25 years.
A new BrandWeek article reports that some companies STILL have a “devil of a time denying rumors” they support satanism (or is it Satanism?). Included in the list of companies who are rumored to have sold their souls to the Devil are Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s and even Starbucks.
Luckily, the conclusion to the article disproves these decades-old allegations because Snopes. com (a site dedicated to fact-checking urban legends) says they’re “just rumors”. Phwew.
According to P&G…they’ve spent lots of money and worked through the law courts for years and years and years to prove they do not support “He Who Shall Not Be Named”. Procter & Gamble was gleefully proud to profess that, after being deluged for decades with queries about their evil sponsorships that… “in recent years we’ve gotten hardly any.” The P&G staff warlock then stated “That’s probably because we took aggressive legal action.”
Yeah….that… or the kids who proliferated this story have graduated from junior high and are too busy raising their own kids…and washing their clothes with Tide, feeding the little tykes Pringles and imbibing copious volumes of Folgers Gourmet Coffee! Isn’t it ironic, don’t ya think?
Look, I was as gullible as the next kid growing up, but something happened when I turned 17…I stopped believing schoolyard rumors. I have a very hard time believing that until very recently this has been a massive thorn in the side of P&G. My point is that I follow the food and beverage world everyday and I haven’t heard a peep out of this one since I was 13….uh-oh, unlucky #13. Oooooo…this is getting creepy.
If you were really that concerned about public perception of your clearly creepy logo, why not change it? Or in an advertisement, have a nun cleaning her clothes with Tide, but she washes them in… Holy Water – that’d prove something wouldn’t it?
I personally don’t believe P&G (or McDonald’s or Starbucks…or the New Jersey Devils, or Duke Blue Devils, or Wake Forest Deamon Deacons, etc) ever engaged in Satanism or anything like that, but one thing I do know…you cannot deny that their man on the moon with the stars logo IS, in fact, quite eerie.
But let’s be sarcastically cynical, urban legends and rumors can have a serious effect on some companies.
The company that makes Carmex lip balm has apparently battled questions about whether the product was addictive or if the company adds an acid or fiberglass to rough up people’s lips…and now, If you can believe it (….”or not” as Jack Palance would say), a new rumor has started that accuses the company of putting something in Carmex that causes people’s mouth muscles to relax and give them ’slack mouth’. That’s about as ridiculous as saying McDonald’s puts something in their food will make you fat. Ooops!
These poor companies… always having to defend themselves against… satanism… addictive chemicals… and even worse those poor companies that deal with annoying consumers who allege stupid stuff like “your lack-of-quality-controlled pet food just killed my beloved dog”.
Folks, that’s my story…and I’m stickin’ to it!
3 Comments
January 18, 2008 at 6:43 am
In looking for past images of Mr.Clean for a poem I am writing, I stumbled on your page.
Good job!
September 17, 2008 at 7:40 am
I myself watched a talk show on television around 2003 in which a spokesperson for P&G admitted occult ties. On Snopes they say the wizard logo was discontinued in 1985 but this is a blatant lie because it was still on toothpaste circa 2003! They did not say satanism, I seem to remember something about Wicca though. There seems to be an active campaign to try and rewrite history. Many people remember seeing the television show but major “gateholder” websites say it is not true, however those gateholders have already lied about the logo being discontinued. Does anyone out there remember which talk show this was or have it on tape?
August 4, 2009 at 5:31 pm
“Yeah….that… or the kids who proliferated this story have graduated from junior high and are too busy raising their own kids”
mwaha ha hahaaaa
what happened to those kids? does anybody know them? can anyone find them now?
mah hahahahahaaaaaa
has anyone seem Ken lately?
oh, and there’s no mention of “1985″ on the snopes page!
mUaaaahahaaaa