How Corporations Can Intentionally Create a Mandela Effect in Their Customers

A number of years ago, I worked at a call center that handled consumer questions/complaints for, among other brands, a major brand of pest-control products.

During the time I worked there, they released a new packaging for the [Brand] Wasp & Hornet spray. The directions on the can included this step: "Turn the sprayer nozzle until the opening lines up with the black dot printed on the can." That step was mostly useless; the product would still spray no matter what part of the can the nozzle was lined up with; it was only a thing because it turned the tube to the optimal position to suck up the maximum amount of product when the container got low.

We had a lot of empty product containers in the office, to help new reps get familiar with the packaging and how the individual products were supposed to work. One of those example products was a can of the wasp spray, with the black dot clearly printed on the metal rim of the can, just under the cap.

The problem was, a large number of these cans of wasp spray were manufactured without the addition of the black dot on the can.

For the first two years I worked there, I would get at least one call a week from someone who was panicking because they were in a wasp-related emergency but couldn't find the black dot to line the nozzle up with. It became a joke in the call center.

Round about the third year, [Brand] changed the packaging of the Wasp & Hornet spray, removing the black dot entirely as well as the line in the directions that mentioned the black dot. Problem solved, right?

Well, yes, BUT. The call center reps were issued new instructions for how to deal with Wasp & Hornet spray packaging questions. Now, if we were asked about the black dot, we were instructed to tell the consumer THAT THERE WAS NEVER A BLACK DOT ON THE CAN.

No, I'm not fucking with you. [Brand] corporate specifically mentioned, in the guidance document to be read to consumers, that "There has never been a black dot on cans of [Brand] Hornet & Wasp Spray".

The empty example wasp spray can, with the black dot, was never removed from the call center; it was still there the day I left, years later.

Every time I see a corporation-related Mandela Effect post, I think of this experience. It's entirely possible that, for whatever mentally-abusive reason, Fruit of the Loom representatives have been specifically instructed to tell people there was never a cornucopia on their logo, or the owners of the Berenstain Bears IP have just decided to say that it was never spelled "Berenstein".

In short, while I'm sure the Mandela Effect is a real thing, and I've experienced it myself, any ME that involves trusting a corporation to be honest about their history or previous products is a fraught proposition.

How many people out there right now are struggling with the apparent ME of remembering a black dot (and instructions regarding a black dot) on a can of wasp spray that the company's official representatives swear never existed?