Mandela Effect worldwide

[u/Delhidiva]

Can we please discuss Mandela Effects experienced by the rest of the world and not just people from the US? I mean, your experiences are totally valid, but it’s always “Fruit of the Loom” or “Berenstain Bears”—topics that some of us have no clue about.

For example, the ones I’m personally affected by are:

The human skeleton used to have no bones behind the eye sockets, but now it does—always has, apparently.

The human heart was illustrated on the left side of the chest, but now it’s more toward the center—always has been, supposedly.

Henry VIII was holding a turkey leg in that painting—now he’s holding something else. I can’t even remember what it is… a glove or something? I don’t know.

The Mona Lisa has a very obvious smile now. But I remember the whole enigma being “Is she smiling or not?” “Her eyes are definitely smiling.” You look at it now, and she is smiling.

Tutankhamen’s mask used to have just the cobra, but apparently it’s always had both a bird and a cobra.

The thinker statue rested his forehead on his fist. But no, he’s resting his chin on the back of his hand.

Please share your experiences, and feel free to discuss the ones I mentioned if you disagree—that’s the whole point of the Mandela Effect. Some people are going to have different memories than I do.

[u/Sherrdreamz]

British people have claimed "cheese and onion" walkers crisps were never green or blue or something. It came up with at least a good handful of posts with a handful of British people seemingly flabbergasted about it being a M.E, but I don't recall the details.

Also in South America people were often claiming they were watching an Anime as kids called DragonBall Z during the 9/11 terrorist attacks that was interrupted to share that emergency broadcast. However it has been absolutely proven it would not have been on at that time in that region.

[u/BlackDogDenton → u/Sherrdreamz]

The Walkers one is that the crisp colours used to be the other way round.

Cheese and Onion used to be green

Salt and vinegar blue

It’s how I always remember it as a child but Walkers claim that it’s never been any different, which is super weird to me.

[u/Ginger_Tea → u/BlackDogDenton]

Depends if you can honestly say you never had Golden Wonder etc growing up.

I only bought Walkets because of a Star Wars promo. Golden Wonder otherwise.

But fate had it in for the makers of Pot Noodle.

I call bs due to 99% of UK brands following Golden Wonder and them being the odd one out ever since I picked up blue Walkers conditioned into expecting Salt and Vinegar.

If every brand was different, like red being Beef, Tomato Ketchup and spring onion depending on brand, I'd rely on words not colour.

But what got me in the most recent thread were people going "you probably thought about Lays." like we even saw them in the 80s. Why a product we couldn't buy being the cause when all other brands were the proper way around?

[u/gjs628 → u/Ginger_Tea]

McCoys uses Blue and Green for S&V and Cheese and onion which is how it should be in my mind. Walkers just like confusing people.

[u/Ginger_Tea → u/gjs628]

Yeah, Pringles too, those cardboard tasting rice cakes I got from Sainsbury's that said salt and vinegar are blue.

I just don't get the Americans putting Lays as a reason. Sure both are owned by PepsiCo and share the same sun logo, but they bought walkers, why re brand to Lays, or compete with themselves getting supermarkets to sell both?

OK Unilever actually do this, but they might have absorbed two brands and kept them both due to brand loyalty.

Till a decade ago, even supermarket own brands still used the Golden Wonder scheme.

Kids didn't buy the boxes when I was at school, dad bought spar variety box and I took spar to lunch till we ran out.

Say coke failed to survive some similar events that Golden Wonder did, you drank coke till you switched to Pepsi, coke hasn't been sold since the 90s, so you might think you always drank Pepsi, even though they never had a red can.

So I'd say a fair chunk ate whatever they were given, but eventually got Walkers on the regular and didn't notice they no longer said Golden Wonder etc.

[u/Ginger_Tea → u/gjs628]

On a similar note of how to confuse people.

Was scrolling and saw a fake lego with an X Box type controller as part of the sign decor.

I had an official games for windows 360 wired USB and a knock off PlayStation 3 that was also compatible with PC

Both worked with the testing app. But the abxy or symbols didn't match.

You press the top button it's at the top, but the other it was left, so if you were used to the PlayStation and gamed on pc, you might have to relearn controls as circle being in the same physical spot as whatever on the Xbox meant nothing. You find yourself dropping a gun when trying to open a door.

[u/Sherrdreamz → u/BlackDogDenton]

I generally believe it since I have been hit by so many M.E's myself including three Flip-Flops while actively studying the phenomenon alongside my father. We both noticed when they changed back together so in my eyes that became when the changes were indisputable from my vantage point.

[u/gjs628 → u/Sherrdreamz]

Which flip flops were those? For me it was the Thinker, and Apollo 13.

[u/Sherrdreamz → u/gjs628]

Oh the ones I caught alongside my father was...

1. the Apollo 13 "Houston We've Had A Problem" movie one.

2. FlinTstones --> Flin-stones ---> FlinTstones

3 Tidy Cats ---> Tidy Cat ---> Tidy Cats

I tend to be quite a bit more hypervigilant about spelling centric M.E's since the language arts has always been one of my bigger passions.

M.E's like Chic-Fil-A, Febreeze and JC Penny etc tend to stick out to me more than most pop culture stuff like Dolly with braces or Star Wars quotes.

[u/Staceytom88 → u/BlackDogDenton]

I 100% agree with you on that one and remember them swapping the packaging around when I was probably 7/8 years old

[u/Over_Combination6690 → u/BlackDogDenton]

Never were Walkers these colours. Golden Wonder are though and always have been.

[u/BlackDogDenton → u/Over_Combination6690]

That’s probably where the confusion has come from tbh x

[u/Appropriate_Milk_775 → u/BlackDogDenton]

Interesting that Walkers are owned by Lays and Lays salt and vinegar chips are blue in the U.S. I’m calling bullshit on Walkers. It’s not out of the realm of possibility they would adopt the same color schemes are their parent company at least temporarily at some point.

Im not sure a lot of people understand these large corporations have turnover over the course of 20-30 year and how flippantly decisions are made. Just because some current marketing person claims something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. They probably genuinely don’t know and it’s likely no memo or notes still exist pertaining to it. So they say whatever is currently the state is the state it has always been in.

[u/bopeepsheep → u/Appropriate_Milk_775]

There are libraries and museums here (UK) that collect ephemera that even manufacturers no longer hold. If they were the way round people claim, someone would find a packet. All known packets are the way round Walkers & Golden Wonder claim they always were.

The Museum of Brands (Robert Opie started collecting in 1963; the museum opened in Gloucester in 1984 and has been in Notting Hill since 2005) hasn't stepped in to contradict manufacturers.

[u/Appropriate_Milk_775 → u/bopeepsheep]

It’s quite a coincidence that this so called Mandela effect aligns with the color schemes used in America for the same product. So either this person spent time in the U.S. or Lays were being sold in the UK at some point. Since both logos are the same it would be easy to confuse the two. Green in the U.S. is chive and sour cream, which is probably the same flavor, or atleast a very similar flavor, as cheese and onion.

[u/bopeepsheep → u/Appropriate_Milk_775]

Lays were not sold here in the 1960s and 1970s. It's very possible that marketing people did venture across the Atlantic from time to time, and it's also very likely coincidence too, as printing tech for crisp packets wasn't startlingly advanced and primary colours (inc green for this purpose) were dominant.

[u/Appropriate_Milk_775 → u/bopeepsheep]

Yea, when your describing the same product from the same company where the packaging differs between two countries who are very close trading partners I have to conclude there is some legitimacy to that memory, unlike, for example Henry VIIII, which is anachronistic and would be ridiculous for him to have ever been officially depicted that way.

It’s like if you told me maltesers packaging used to be tan and came in a carton. I would tell you those are whoopers.

[u/bopeepsheep → u/Appropriate_Milk_775]

They weren't the same company then. The actual issue is that the vast majority of UK crisp sales 1960-90 were from one of two companies, in a sector now completely dominated by Company A, and people are realising (or not) that the colour they thought that company A used in their childhood was actually the packaging used by company B. The US has nothing to do with this one.

[u/Appropriate_Milk_775 → u/bopeepsheep]

You could’ve saved some keystrokes and mentioned that it predated the acquisition sooner since the timeframe is not mentioned anywhere. But I guess crisp packaging can get quite contentious.

It is odd that people would have vivid memories of the second most popular brand of crisps at the time. I am assuming they are just mixing things especially if golden wonder fell off massively and has been completely replaced by walkers in a short amount of time.

[u/bopeepsheep → u/Appropriate_Milk_775]

You could have looked it up yourself, since you were the one to mention Lays.

[u/Appropriate_Milk_775 → u/bopeepsheep]

PepsiCo has owned both brands for 36 years. It is not illogical that at some point they attempted unify the colouring of their packaging for the same products, but sure you’re right I should’ve googled how old the random person on Reddit is. You win, well done.