Product Logos with Suspicious Histories: Proctor & Gamble

Before Proctor & Gamble (better known as P&G) formulated the logo they currently use, the manufacturers of the popular soap and detergent products used a curious logo design in its early years. More than one of the suspicious features of the logo has attracted negative attention, and caused some to deem the representation as being satanic. The company has spent years denying the rumors until they finally gave in and replaced the infamous man in the moon logo with a new design.

At first glance, the logo character appears celestial-like with hints of an astrological or mythical figure. However, others saw something different when they looked at the imagery, and believed that it contained hidden messages with a satanic meaning. To make matters worse, legend has it that the president of the company once admitted on a major talk show that he was a member of the Church of Satan ”“ a piece of information the company strongly denies and has been dismissed as a nasty rumor created by the competition.

The design elements in question include an old man figure (supposedly the ‘man in the moon’) who is surrounded by 13 stars. While everyone already knows that the number 13 is considered unlucky, others believe that the number of stars is deliberately chosen to represent something of an occult nature. In some renderings of the logo, the stars seem to resemble (in a rough arrangement) the number six, which is the digit used to represent Satan (the ‘Beast’) in Revelation 13. P&G responded to the claims regarding the number 13 as representing the original 13 colonies of the United States.  According to a representative of the company, the man in the moon is also meant to pay homage to the original colonies.

Others have brought up the coincidence regarding a passage in the Bible, in Revelation 12:1, that states: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars.” Some have contended that P&G created a male figure with 13 stars instead of 12 as a mockery of the Bible verse.

Upon closer inspection of the old man’s head, some have pointed out that the curly extension of his hair and beard look quite similar to the shape of horns. Others believe that the number ‘666’ is also hidden within the curls of the man in an inverted form. Representatives of Proctor & Gamble have denied the accusations that they used a horned man as the highlight of their logo to reference the ‘ram’ ”“ an animal often associated with the worship of Satan. They state that the artwork depicts curls of hair.

Rumors of the ‘satanic’ logo started to gain steam around 1981, which prompted P&G to file court lawsuits and issue statements on more than one occasion in an effort to publicly deny the damaging gossip concerning their logo.

However, all of the buzz worthiness of the old Proctor & Gamble logo must have become too much for the company, and they finally decided to retire the man in the moon logo from being used in public. For some time, it remained in use within the company ”“ saved for company stationary and decoration on corporate awards. The man in the moon logo was eventually replaced with the initials of the company ”“ the same representation we see today.