proctor and gamble logo
    Not a satanic symbol

Using fear and superstition to sell things is an old tactic that is still used in every facet of life from window cleaner to war. Trying to make people stop buying your competition’s product and buy yours by saying the other product is evil preys on people’s gullability and stupidity. P&G has fought against this kind of propaganda for years, and this is not just a victory against a competitor using unfair practices but is also a blow against ignorance in general.

Procter & Gamble Co. has won a jury award of $19.25 million in a civil lawsuit filed against four former Amway distributors accused of spreading false rumors linking the company to Satanism to advance their own business.

The U.S. District Court jury in Salt Lake City on Friday found in favor of the Cincinnati-based consumer products company in a lawsuit filed by P&G in 1995. It was one of several the company brought over rumors alleging a link with the company’s logo and Satanism.

Rumors had begun circulating as early as 1981 that the company’s logo — a bearded, crescent man-in-moon looking over a field of 13 stars — was a symbol of Satanism.

Sell your product on its merits, don’t sell against someone else’s product using lies.



  1. BubbaRay says:

    P.T. Barnum warned those that can think for themselves. Since it’s now the 21st century, perhaps there’s one born every 30 seconds.

  2. Angel H. Wong says:

    “Sell your product on its merits, don’t sell against someone else’s product using lies.”

    But… Ask anyone who’s got a degree in marketing and he/she will tell you that marketing is basically the art of selling crap by defaming the competition.

  3. Bryan says:

    We actually were fed this line of crap in Sunday School, probably buy a teacher that sold Amway themselves!

  4. Mike says:

    Isn’t this the way elections are won?

    What would Republicans do if they couldn’t scare folks into thinking a nuclear bomb is en route to a major city near you, or the Democrats if they couldn’t scare old ladies into believing they’ll be living in the gutter once those evil Republicans take away their Social Security.

  5. Gary Marks says:

    Quite a few years ago, I had lunch with an attractive schoolteacher, and it turned out she was selling Amway on the side. I went to a couple of their meetings, and although I can’t remember hearing the slanderous Satanic claim about P&G that was the subject of this lawsuit, there were a few other oddities.

    I heard several claims about P&G products that sounded pretty outlandish, and one of the claims repeated by at least three different people was readily testable. I tested it myself, and it turned out to be pure bullcrap. It occurred to me that either no one in the local organization had performed this easily replicated test, or they were simply lying. I decided not to get mixed up with a group of “true believers” like that, and the schoolteacher suddenly seemed less attractive.

    The secret ingredient in Amway products is zeal 😉

  6. Son of Satan says:

    Damn! You mean I’ve been worshipping the wrong icon for how many years now? Just what the hell am I supposed to bow down to now? Maybe the presidential seal. All hail Bush! All hail Bush! Praise Bush, Cheney, Rove the triumvirate of evil.

  7. Shawn says:

    #3 – Me too ( back then I went to a Baptist school / church ) . They went as far as connecting the stars together to form the numbers 666. I was 10 – it scared the hell out of me then until we switched churches a few years later ( now Presbyterian ) who then informed me it was a bunch bunk.

  8. John Paradox says:

    Just wandered over to SNOPES and did a quick search. The ‘slander’ against P&G goes back to 1980 (how 20th Century!), with suits against AMWAY going back nearly as far. link.

    J/P=?

  9. Greg Allen says:

    So, how much can America get from Iran for calling us the “Great Satan” all these years?

  10. James Hill says:

    #9 – Since no one from Utah has pointed it out yet, nothing.

  11. Morram says:

    How long has that rumor gone around? I remember getting told by a girlfriend I had “evil” shampoo in my shower, that was in the mid seventies. I almost died laughing and to make it worse she invited over a friend that lacked enough brains to know better and read some crud in a bible about stars and planets that made it all real to her. She turned out to be a JW and a major losers, well they both did.
    It’s such a shame that we live in a county that has some of the most progressive sciences and technologies yet a majority of life is dictated by moronic superstitious fools.

  12. paperweight says:

    john, if your suggestion is adopted, no one will be able to sell insurance.

  13. JFStan says:

    If products were only sold on their merits, AmWay would be out of business. It’s just a pyramid scheme.. The products are only there to keep it (barely) legal. They don’t want to sell you products, they want to sell you the idea of selling AmWay.

  14. Frank IBC says:

    Multi-level marketing is a form of Satanism, as far as I’m concerned.

  15. TJGeezer says:

    11 – Morram – As fundamentalist Xian religious sects go, the JWs have my vote for least offensive. They are unfailingly polite, they do not knock at the door before midmorning, they leave if asked, they don’t go around judging others and they never, ever ask for money. Near as I can tell, other than having no real conception of the methodology behind science, their worst fault is to categorically bow down to what they call “Earthly authorities.” (Yes, I’ve talked with them a few times, and if they’d had tails they’d have been wagging them like puppies they were so pleased.) No flag saluting, utter refusal to have anything to do with war, and they won’t have anything to do with politics either.

    Wait. That last is a fault?

  16. Brew Kline says:

    What about companies that use exageration and bloatedness to sell garbage. HSN (the Home Shopping Network in the U.S.A) comes to mind, especially when they have that guitarist, Esteban, in his black bolero hat and sunglasses selling guitars that most customers either end up sending back or breaking because it is pure junk.

  17. huskergrrl says:

    The nun at our local Catholic church spread this rumor back in the early 80’s and went so far as to publish a call to boycott their products in the church bulletin. She also told me that my makeup was made out of dead babies. I knew she must have been affiliated with an evil organization like Amway.

  18. RC says:

    I can’t wait for a few Chinease Manufacturer to take on P&G. Finally rationality will take the place of their endless – endless marketing. I suspect a good 40%+ of the cost of sales, is spent selling their products. Repeat something long enough loud enough and people will believe it. It’s a fat bloated pig of a company with no redeeming qualities. They sell commodities wrapped in shiny packaging. Merits has little to do with it, beyond basic manufacturing.

    I don’t need or want a razor with 5 blades. That’s insane.

    Diluting a product by 80% with water and then selling an undiluted product as an improvement – Insane.

    And AMWAY – Who cares? They have a broken business model feeding off friendships designed to make a few people rich.

    From Texas – RC

  19. Brock says:

    Have you ever noticed Santa and Satan have all the same letters? And they both wear red.
    And telling your kids about Santa is a lie, which Satan loves.
    And why does Santa wear that red hat? Is it to hide some Horns???
    And why does he isolate himself away from civilization – just like Satan?
    And what’s his fascination with Kids??

    I think they’re cousins…

  20. BHK says:

    It’s a tossup, but I still think Amway cleaners do a better job at removing goat blood from the altar. For stains from the orgies, however, P&G cleaners rule the roost.

  21. Mr. Fusion says:

    #20, FYI, AmWay takes P&G products, add water, stir, repackage, and sells. That AmWay Goat Blood Remover is really just diluted Downy. It does a piss poor job at removing the stains but sure leaves a soft alter. So soft in fact, most people can’t notice the remaining stains.

    Hey no argument on your second observation.

  22. Grrr says:

    Gary – hah. “The secret ingredient in Amway products is zeal.”
    Bravo.

    $19M? That’s, like, a million quarts of their laundry soap…

  23. FRAGaLOT says:

    Typical.
    Anything Christians don’t understand they label it “Satanism” as they did hundreds of years ago with all earth-based religions (Druids, Pagans, Wicca, etc). This is how all the witch burning got started. Satin didn’t exist till the Christians invented it to scare everyone into converting to Christianity. Then a group of people actuality turned Satanism into a religion. Ah gotta love freedom of religion ya know? Just another source of bullshit.

    It’s good to see someone has stood up to this bullshit. Ironically the court that ruled over this was in SLC Utah?

  24. Don says:

    Let’s see, the suit was brought against Amway distributors, a whopping 4 of them. Does anyone think that these poor ignorant Amway DISTRIBUTORS have 20 million bux laying around???

    What a waste of my tax dollars.

    Don

  25. Ilosie says:

    I want to be rich and have a lot of money pay out credits and be free

  26. Lee says:

    Loosie, everyone wants to be rich, but not everyone is …

  27. freethinker says:

    Just curious…have any of you ever actually studied occult symbology? Do you know for sure that the Amway distributors are wrong about this? Or is it an assumption? I know it may sound silly on the surface, but if you look deeper into it, you might be surprised.

  28. Voiz2Noiz says:

    Many people seem to be against MLNM or MLM etc., however most people have a predilection and desire to generate some extra income and are eager to find something out there. The truth is there are plenty of ways to conquer that goal. An ambitious person will always attempt to find something within his grasp. Are there a lot of scams, pyramids schemes and among other things that is not legal? Absolutely! But just because one knows or understands doesn’t mean he’s learned what it truly takes to get ahead. Plenty of conventional businesses have gotten sued and lost, but that won’t stop most people from going back to their favorite product. It is unfortunate that a society of people cannot do for themselves and peruse other people’s information that may not have much merit only to confuse research to search. Most people are guilty in searching for information and not actually researching its information. I believe people are generally smart, but ignorant in so many ways. You either can be smart about MLNM/MLM or just plain ignorant. It is simply a matter of perspective.


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