There was a recent article about a man in the UK who read the back of a package of sliced ham that his significant other had purchased. On the list of ingredients was "dog shit".
Now, as a person who grew up with white bread, mayo, processed cheese slices and ham or ham-like (aka Spam) product (thus rendering me incapable of ever enjoying any meat that is pink and shiny), I wouldn't be surprised if the ingredients in lunchmeat included "pulverized snouts" or "pureed pig tails" or even "powdered hooves". But "dog shit"? Whoa Nellie!
Turns out that a now-former employee was playing a prank. Big surprise.
While I was thinking about it, I remembered a can of Renuzit air spray I bought about 10-11 years ago.
My best recollection of events was a radio disc jockey I heard in my car, joking that someone from the "Conservatives for Consumer Products" or some such organization, lodged a complaint with the Dial Corporation for an "obscenity" they found on a can of "Renuzit Fresh Cut Flowers" aerosol air freshener.
The air jocks wouldn't say what the "obscenity" was, though.
My first thought was "Wow, they really have a group called 'Conservatives for Consumer Products' whose only purpose is to hunt for smut on packaging? Where can I get a job like that?"
My second thought was..."hey, didn't I buy one of those?"
So I went home, took it out from the bathroom cabinet and examined it. And looked. And looked again.
Lo and behold, about 20 minutes later, I saw it. I showed it to everybody I knew, and we laughed our tushies off. Then I put it away in a safe place to leave for my (hopefully) future grandchildren with a chuckle and forgot about it.
Mind you, this was years before I got on the internet, and years before I knew Google or eBay existed.
Anyway, after reading about the ham made out of "dog shit", I started thinking about packaging mistakes and pranks. I googled the main keywords about my can of air freshener, and found that my funny little thing wasn't really that special.
Snopes.com, is probably the number ONE expert site for confirming or debunking urban myths. It reports the Dial company claimed that the picture is NOT of a disgruntled art director's Johnson, but of a badly cropped photo of a stray petal belonging to a pink tulip (it just LOOKS like it has--urgh--veins!). They didn't recall the cans, but put a leaf to cover the questionable spot. Others, however, disagree.
So, I decided to scan mine and post it here. Click on the picture to enlarge it. What do YOU think (other than that I have too much time on my hands)?
3 comments:
Oh my God.
You know, if they're willing to write "dog shit" on the packaging when they're just "disgruntled", I don't want to know what they'll do when they're really pissed off.
Oh pooh, (pardon the pun), I shouldn't be reading your blog in public. I'm sitting in a cafe and and other customers have all moved away from the sad woman crying with laughter in the corner. I think I'd better go before I frighten the children at the next table. Keep it coming.
PS tell hubby I could tell him Agent Starlings real name... but then I'd have to shoot him.
I really enjoyed looking at your site, I found it very helpful indeed, keep up the good work.
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