From the Wool-sack
| Publication year | 1992 |
| Pages | 234 |
| Citation | Vol. 21 No. 2 Pg. 234 |
1992, February, Pg. 234. FROM THE WOOL-SACK
The London Times (1851)
Pity Procter & Gamble. If it isn't fighting off a bunch of nuts who are convinced its trademark is satanic, or the FTC, which is convinced it has deliberately mislabelled its orange juice cartons, it's fighting off a hostile press abetted by disloyal employees who leak embarrassing stories to the media.
P&G has filed more than a dozen lawsuits against individuals who have claimed the company was associated with Satanism and who have, in some cases, recommended boycotting the company's products.
The defendants associate P&G with Satanism because of P&G's 108-year-old trademark, which contains a moon and stars. The trademark first was placed on products in the 1850s so the illiterate could identify the manufacturer. The company had no idea that 150 years later, semi-literate know-nothings would conclude that P&G had undergone a corporate merger with the devil. Although P&G has won all its lawsuits against the know-nothings, they have not been completely stilled.
When not fighting attacks on its trademark, P&G is fighting off attacks on its labels. Earlier this year, P&G was accused by the FTC of deliberately mislabelling its orange juice. The FTC claimed the language used on orange juice cartons implied that the product was freshly squeezed when in fact it had been squeezed weeks, if not months, before. Presumably exhausted by its fight with the anti-Satanists, P&G agreed to change its label. It was, however, less conciliatory in its most recent encounter with a hostile environment.
On June 10, The Wall Street Journal published a story in which it disclosed that the head of the food and beverage division of P&G (who had resigned on June 10) had resigned under pressure.
The next day, the paper published a story suggesting that P&G was considering the sale of its food and beverage division. Those stories, as far as P&G was concerned, were the last straw. Being hounded by ignorant fundamentalists and the FTC was one thing---having trade secrets disclosed by The Wall Street Journal was quite another.(fn1)
Tired of being kicked around, the company (which is based in Cincinnati) enlisted the aid of Arthur Ney, the prosecutor of Hamilton County, Ohio. The company wanted Art...
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