Tide is the devil's detergent

Proctor and Gamble (P&G) is one of the largest multinational company that has business in the Philippines until now. They are the manufacturer of Tide, Ariel, Safeguard, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, and many others.

Despite their good image in the public, someone would still put stain on their name. There was this urban legend that circulated in 1980s that somehow made a great impact to the people. It was said, that the Proctor and Gamble was a profit-generating company of a Satanist group. People were told that the moon-and-stars logo found on the boxes of P&G products was the symbol of the Anti-Christ. The number of the Beast, "666," was supposed to be hidden in the logo.

Legend

Legend has it, that the earnings of Procter and Gamble were supposed to be used for the world domination of demon worshipers, or to support a Church of Satan. There were also e-mails asserting that the so-called "owner" of P&G had appeared in a US talk show (Oprah Winfrey's, Sally Jesse Raphael, Phil Donahue, or Merv Griffin's) and admitted that "a large portion of his profits from Procter & Gamble Products goes to support [the] Satanic Church." The e-mail even gives details on how one could obtain a transcript of the said show. The catch? There was no such episode in any of the shows mentioned. Moreover, P&G is a publicly held entity. Thus, it's not owned by a single person.

Here's one of the e-mails:

PLEASE MAKE A DIFFERENCE The President of Procter & gamble appeared on the Phil Donahue Show on March 1, 1994. He announced that due to the openness of our society, he was coming out of the closet about his association with the church of Satan. He stated that a large portion of his profits from Procter & Gamble Products goes to support this satanic church. When asked by Donahue if stating this on t.v. would hurt his business, he replied, "THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH CHRISTIANS IN THE UNITED STATES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE."

Fact

First of all, the president of the Proctor and Gamble is NOT a Satanist NOR his company a supporter of the Church of Satan. Aside of that, the Phil Donahue Show was aired 1994, which is 14 years later than 1980 when the urban legend rose. The president of P&G never had been in the said show nor did he say such thing.

The company has a lot of competitors in the first place. Some of these competitors or one of them fought for market share unethically. They create such demonic and scandalous rumor just to disparage the goodwill of the company. However, they didn't won the fight.

In an August 1, 1990 Chicago Sun Times article, it was revealed that P&G sued a Kansas-based couple, James and Linda Newton of Parsons, "for allegedly making statements and distributing literature stating that P&G supported the Church of Satan." Then, in 2007, P&G was awarded $19 million in its lawsuit against Amway (a company that manufactures consumer products) distributors who allegedly spread the story.


Actually, there were also other urban legends with similar subject that came up from no where. One example is Liz Claiborne (in 1990) - a designer, who, according to rumor, admitted in Oprah show that 40% of her company's profit is given to the Church of Satan. This rumor was also a hoax.

Sources:
http://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/41192/urban-legends-that-drove-pinoys-crazy
Snopes.com