Satan In Cincinnati

The Devil is in the Details

[Additional proof that stupidity and silliness were around before this century and prior to the invention of the Internet]

   While waiting in a line recently I noticed the logo above that you will recognize and remembered the other one which you probably don't. For years it was the trademark of the Procter & Gamble Company which is based in Cincinnati. Supposedly it represented the man in the moon and the cluster of stars stood for the 13 colonies. In the 1980s, however, it looked sinister to some, particularly if you stared at the logo in a mirror and saw 666 in the curls of the moon man's beard. This symbol of Satanism and the sign of the Antichrist was found throughout households on products ranging from Pampers to the box of Ivory Snow and clearly there was reason for concern.  The Satanic rumour spread quickly and people were urged to boycott P&G, which apparently many at the competitor Amway thought was a great idea. The switchboard in Cincinnati was receiving 5,000 queries a month about the logo and although P&G fought hard and spent a lot of money, it was ultimately abandoned.

Sources: [for those who think I make stuff up]
   Most of what you will want to know is found in the Wikipedia entry for P&G under "Logo Myth".

"P&G Drops Logo: Cites Satan Rumors: Man in the Moon Loses Job" Sandra Salmans, New York Times, April 25, 1985.
"P&G Trying to Exorcise the Devil Rumor," Pamela Moreland, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22, 1982.
"Rumor in Minnesota Says 'Moonies' Run Procter & Gamble,"Lawrence Ingrassia, The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 26, 1980.

I could go on. The marketing nightmare lasted into this century: "Amway Loses Appeal in Case With Rival P&G," The Globe and Mail, Oct. 2, 2001.

There are also rumours about the Siren in the Starbucks logo, but I will leave it to you to find them. If you go to Snopes and search for Starbucks you will see they have suffered a number of their own marketing nightmares.

Post Script: (the spot reserved for editorializing)
Peeing in Philly: 
Among the  Starbucks marketing problems there is the one that arose in Philadelphia when two black men were arrested in a Starbucks for doing nothing. They were waiting for a friend and asked to use the bathroom. As an elderly white guy, I would probably not have been arrested, but I don't think they would have let me use the facilities. Perhaps the Starbuck's staff overreacted to the black men's request just as Starbucks overreacted in their response to the bad publicity. They said that they now would treat anyone who walked in as a customer even if they did not buy anything (as if there were already not enough of them sitting there using their laptops.) And, they closed stores for employee training which, one imagines, might have upset many of the employees who were already 'woke' and some of whom would have been 'of colour'. Bad ideas, both of them.
"Mandatory Implicit Bias Training Is a Bad Idea: It's All the Rage. And It's Seriously Counterproductive," Lee Jussim, Psychology Today, Dec. 2, 2017.
  As an old white guy with an aging bladder, I admit I am likely to benefit from all of this and look forward to the elimination everywhere of signs such as this one.