Mike Moser "I Say" Published Dec. 9, 2005

Urban legends can hurt businesses

Rumors are something that hurt or have hurt all of us at one time or another. They can be harmful to businesses and corporations who often are at a loss as to the best way to defend their names and reputations.

We have visited urban legends before, but recent conversations with people I know coupled with a proliferation of urban legends being promoted through chain e-mails has sparked another look at urban legends.

We are all familiar with what Proctor and Gamble went through years ago when the rumor that the company's licensed logo was really a symbol for satanic worshipers. Why? Because the logo included a circle, the moon and some stars.

Rumors spread across the nation, often from the pulpits of well-meaning but misinformed preachers, and thousands boycotted P&G products because of the fear of supporting a company with satanic tendencies.

How the rumor started no one seems to know but the company spent over a million dollars protecting its trademark logo which had been designed in the 1800s. Company officials appeared on the talk show circuit defending their name and in the end, filed lawsuits against those they could prove were spreading the lies.

Today national corporations like Wal-Mart, Target and Costco are facing a similar urban legend - being promoted through e-mails on the Internet - that employees are banned from wishing shoppers "Merry Christmas."

Not true says Crossville Wal-Mart store manager Roy Howard. The source of this rumor, as far as Wal-Mart is concerned, goes back to a disgruntled employee who was dismissed from employment at a Wal-Mart in a northern state store.

Still, the rumors continue to swirl even though Wal-Mart stores have signs in some departments that say, "Merry Christmas."

"The only corporate directive we have is to be sensitive to our communities," Howard said. In Crossville, Wal-Mart workers are encouraged to wish shoppers "Merry Christmas," "Happy New Year," or simply "Happy Holidays." There is no standing order to wish or unwish "Merry Christmas."

My favorite urban legend which still surfaces from time to time centers around a little boy in London dying of cancer with a last wish to get in the Guiness Book of Records for having the most business cards ever. The appeal called for people to send their business cards to a London address.

Last time I checked this legend out, the boy was actually in his 30s, had been cured of his cancer for years, and the London Post Office had been forced to rent a separate facility to dump all the business cards in.

I love the urban legends that Bill Gates wants to share some of his Microsoft earnings with all of us if we would only forward an e-mail to ten people. I am still waiting for my share.

Here are some other unfounded urban legends for you to enjoy.

·An automobile included in the scene pictured on the back of the U.S. $10 bill is a Model T Ford driven by Bonnie and Clyde.

·U.S. buffalo nickels are being recalled because the bison depicted is anatomically correct.

·Coleco sends death certificates to children who return damaged Cabbage Patch dolls.

·Designer Liz Claiborne announced on a TV talk show that she doesn't design clothes for black women because their "hips are too big."

·Ivory Soap got its "float" from a manufacturing mistake.

·Colonel Sanders left a will specifying that 10 percent of KFC's profits be donated to the Ku Klux Klan.

·Costco warehouse club stores are owned by China.

·Jilted wife of the owner of Home Depot creates Lowe's.

·Pull tabs from aluminum cans have special redemption value for time on dialysis machines.

·Cigarette packs were once redeemable to help the defray the cost of purchasing seeing-eye dogs.

·The Baby Ruth candy bar was named after President Grover Cleveland's daughter, Ruth.

·Life Savers candy was so named because its inventor's daughter died from choking on a non-holed mint.

The list can go on and on but none of these mentioned above are true. But, you can find someone out there who believes them.

To learn more about urban legends, you can Google urban legends or go to the snopes.com Web site.

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Mike Moser is the editor of the Crossville Chronicle. His column is published periodically on Fridays.