Procter and Gamble Rumor Summary

“Fighting That Old Devil Rumor” is about a well-known company being called devil worshippers. Procter and Gamble became part of these rumors because of their company logo (356). Author, Sandra Salmans, finds many people boycotting Procter and Gamble are Christians (356). The rumors began circling were the result of several lawsuits Procter and Gamble filed to protect their name. Procter and Gamble had a long road of steps they had to take to prove media and rumors wrong. Procter and Gamble’s logo was rumored to be associated with the mark of the devil. Sandra Salman says the logo had a different meaning. She reports the logo means “The man on the moon and the 13 stars representing the original colonies” (356). The logo seems more patriotic than devilish, as others began saying. Customer Faye Dease says, “when a mirror is held up to the logo, the curlicues in the man’s beard became 666-the sign of the Antichrist.” (357). Dease continued her argument by adding that she didn’t understand why they continued to use the logo with this amount of controversy (357). Eventually, it became clear that Procter and Gamble was purposely being put in the center of controversy. Christian boycotts began to form against Procter and Gamble. Cathy Gebing, a Procter and Gamble employee, spent her days answering calls says, “No, sir, that’s a false rumor… that’s our trademark, we’ve had it about 100 years” (356). Procter and Gamble had a serious fight and a good amount of work to do in order to accomplish their goal; changing the minds of the public. Procter and Gamble turned to the media to help them reinstate their good name. Procter and Gamble tried reaching the public to convince them they weren’t devil worshippers and their logo had nothing to do with the Antichrist, as others had claimed (358). Because of the mass amounts of people that can be reached through media, Procter and Gamble thought that would be the answer to their situation. Step two consisted of

References: Salmans, Sandra. “Fighting That Old Devil Rumor.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. 12th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 356-359.