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Is that a rodent in your beer?
Brian Boling reviews contamination rumors

Kmart Snakes (late 1960s)
While shopping at Kmart, a woman put her hand in a Taiwanese coat (or blanket) and felt the prick of serpent fangs. Kmart tried to locate the victim, enlisting Detroit newspapers, which published the negative results of their investigations. The company also called a herpetologist to ask if a snake could survive a journey from the Far East. (The snake later moved to the ball pit at a fast-food restaurant playground.)

Kentucky Fried Rat (1970s- present)
A woman ate a fried rat mixed in with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. If the company responded, no trace of its campaign remains. The current spokespeople will not divulge the secrets of their predecessors; they respond to in-quiries simply by saying, "a rumor’s a rumor." A new email variant of the story explains that KFC’s recently abbreviated name has little to do with the unhealthiness of fried foods. Because of freakish genetic modifications, the restaurant can no longer legally advertise its product as "chicken." The company quickly denied this story on its web site.

Bubble Yum (1977)
Because previous brands of bubble gum required heavy jaw work to soften them, Squibb Inc. introduced Bubble Yum–the first "soft" bubble gum–to immediate success. School kids suspicious of the innovation claimed the company included spider eggs among the ingredients. Squibb hired detectives to fight the rumor, to no avail. The company also placed ads in The New York Times and sent reprints to PTA groups, school principals, and candy retailers. The campaign met with some success, although sales still suffered in New York City (probably because kids don’t fully trust the Times).

Wormburgers (1978)
A rumor that a fast-food chain cut its beef with worms began with Wendy’s restaurants but soon moved to McDonald’s. (Perhaps because the president of McDonald’s had written a book the previous year called Grinding It Out.) The chain responded with form letters to concerned customers but eventually went public when polls showed that seventy-five percent of people in Atlanta had heard the rumor. The public relations staff denied the use of "protein additives" and asserted that McDonald’s uses "100% U.S. government-inspected beef"–without any mention of worms.

Pop Rocks (1979)
Children believed that eating the candy while drinking a carbonated beverage could kill. Pop Rocks’ inventor went on a speaking tour, saying that he’d served the candy to his kids for more than twenty years. General Foods also got FDA testimony denouncing the rumor, placed full-page ads (addressed to parents) in newspapers, and sent letters to candy stores and school principals. Despite claiming victory over the rumor, the company discontinued the candy in 1983 and sold the patent to Kraft in 1985.

Corona (1987)
After a rumor spread that employees at a Grupo Modelo plant peed in bottles of Corona, the beer brand’s sales suffered. Because the company first heard the rumors in Nevada, it pinned the blame on a Heineken distributor there–who probably did not invent the story but enjoyed spreading jokes about the competition. Nevertheless, when Grupo Modelo threatened to sue, the distributor signed a statement that Corona contained no urine. Grupo Modelo spent three weeks denouncing the rumor via press releases and a talk show tour by executives. Despite the common comparison of beer to piss (and the speed with which one becomes the other), the PR effort succeeded and Corona regained its market share.

Mountain Dew (late 1980s-present)
The Yellow #5 dye in Mountain Dew is rumored to reduce sperm counts and shrink testicles. When a Planned Parenthood counselor discovered that some teenagers relied on the drink as birth control, she wrote Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren about her concerns. Neither columnist printed her letter. PepsiCo., which owns Moun-tain Dew, also declined to fight the rumor, most likely because the story wasn’t hurting sales.

Green M&Ms (1980s-present)
According to rumor, the right combination of Blue #1 and Yellow #4 will work as an aphrodisiac. In 1992, Wendy Jaffe appropriated the legend and started Cool Chocolates, Inc., to market "The Green Ones." Her company’s ad featured a scantily clad woman surrounded by green M&M knock-offs, prompting concerned citizens to claim that the Mars company was selling candy using sex. The short-lived rumor ended when Mars sued Jaffe for trademark infringement. But in 1997, Mars itself started capitalizing on the rumor. The company launched an ad campaign featuring Dennis Miller and a sexy, female, green M&M. Mars revived the campaign recently by touting the abilities of "The Green Ones" on packaging and in-store displays.