What to believe? Life is so much like a cartoon or an Onion article these days, who knows where the truth lies? As long as I can remember I've read about conspiracy theories and dark underground tales. Area 51, the Illuminati, a second government pulling the strings, two Melania's... the list is endless. We basically live in an "X-Files" episode.
But if we're honest, there are a few of these "ideas" that even the sanest of us will follow.
Redditoru/illuminatedbabewanted to compare notes on what truths we're all certain of, by asking:
What's a 'conspiracy' you truly believe?
I'm not sure about aliens, but I do believe in ghosts, I think. Does that count? Is there such a thing a paranormal conspiracy? Hmmm...
Little Piggy
homer simpson wow GIFGiphy"The bacon hype that came about around the time Epic Meal Time started on YouTube was a marketing campaign by the pork industry."
- lorn23
Disposables...
"Big oil and plastics created the recycling campaign so people could still feel good about buying disposable plastic products. In reality, the majority of plastic cannot be recycled. Further, recycling isn't cost effective in the slightest. China was burying our recycling for years."
"This is sorta true if you look at the entire funding for the personal responsibility campaign it was by BP oil to shift blame into the consumer."
wasting ink...
"That the "printer alignment" page your printer makes you print when you install a new ink cartridge or plug in your printer or any other basic printer action is complete made up nonsense that makes you think your printer is doing important printer maintenance while needlessly wasting ink."
- wxmanify
A.I. Issues
"I think the trend where you show a picture of yourself now versus 10 years ago was promoted if not invented by Facebook owned social media companies in order to train artificial intelligence to be able to recognize and analyze how faces age."
"This is true for pretty much anything on social media. All those quizzes, post if you believe, whatever random meme just lets them collect data for A.I. modeling or more nefarious purposes. Never do the "your pornstar name is your mother's maiden name plus the last six of your social security number" posts. I seriously underestimated the number of penises and 69s my inbox was gonna receive."
"commoners"
Burning Tom Hanks GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy"That most conspiracy theories are allowed to circulate by the powers that be and they let certain false info "leak" to add fuel to the fire so they can use these conspiracy theories as a distraction from their real agenda, part of keeping the "commoners" in a naive bubble. Conspiracy theories are the cover for the actual conspiracies."
Anytime I hear big oil, I know it's true. Cheery I know. But they know how to manipulate the world. It's all about the money...
Out There
Jurnee Smollett Hbo GIFGiphy"Aliens are among us just not how we think they're supposed to look like. I mean we have an immortal jellyfish in our ocean that looks right out of a HP Lovecraft book."
- k-rdy
The Strangest Superstitions People Actually Observe | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The world can be a superstitious place. If you've ever knocked on wood or thrown salt over your shoulder then you've run into one or two throughout your life...Paths
"That my navigation cares more about traffic flow than the best route for me personally."
- mrausgor
"I mean, to be fair, this can very often be "same picture" territory. If everyone's navigation tried to optimize for what's best for the driver, you'd easily get a situation that's worse for everyone... including you."
- xternal7
On the Floor
"Truly incompetent workers who get hired claiming 15+ years of experience but know nothing about their field are actually just people poorly placed by eyewitness protection. My nemesis who was our new industrial engineer who zip tied all the computer speakers to the floor made me think of this one XD Makes you wonder."
"Edit: lots of people concerned about the floor. Yes the floor had holes, it was a clean room. Iirc it was actually the cords truly zip toed to the floor, the speakers were zip tied to the tables' kick plates like 3 in above the floor."
Molten Salt Reactors...
"That nuclear technology and power was choked out by big oil and gas, and that fear of radiation was intentionally trumped up to incite public opposition to anything nuclear. A lot of folks seemed not to know that used nuclear fuel, often called waste, is recyclable"
"It can also be used directly as fuel for certain types of reactors that haven't seen a lot of research for political reasons, but for which several mature designs and several proofs of concept have been built (Molten Salt Reactors, if you want to research it)."
Big Brother
Explosion Reaction GIFGiphy"The government puts out really crazy conspiracies so the people that post about legitimate conspiracies come across as crazy and unbelievable."
Against the poor...
"The odds are very strategically stacked against poor people and even the middle class (America) so that we can never get ahead. We are kept in our place to do bullcrap jobs and buy bullcrap products to keep the ultra wealthy chugging along. Education is expensive so we don't think too hard, and the food is cheap and crappy to keep us fat, tired, and low ambition."
"Propaganda and identity politics keeps us in our own little stupid camps so we never come together to realize this. Our purpose is to purchase. And it will never change because for every 1 person who tries to buy local, learn, and take care of themselves, there are 100 morons who want everything fast and cheap." ~ Good_Piccolo4046
Dr. King
"That the government, more specifically FBI, was involved in the assassination of Martin Luther King." ~ Feisty-Inspection286
"I think it's assumed because we have the FBI letter to King that told him to commit suicide. We also have his file and how paranoid Hoover was about any of the black activists at the time. Sadly we don't have any links to the assassination but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck." ~ UCMCoyote
I Hate Ads...
"That YouTube gets mad at me for skipping all their quick survey questions for ads, and punishes me by giving me ads for feminine products." ~ Fancyliving228
"My YouTube ads are weird. Enough to make me think I'm part of some undisclosed, unethical social experiment, because google definitely knows enough about my internet habits to target their ads better. This last week they started advertising monster porn to me, which I didn't even realise was a thing."
"Before that I was getting ads for super woke online courses such as "pay $500 for this six week course that will explain why you're a racist cultural appropriater for doing yoga!" I mean, who the hell actually would sign up for something like that? YouTube ads are whack." ~ Reetniap
The Epidemic
"That the CIA/ Reagan Administration helped sell crack cocaine to African American communities in the 1980's and the reporter who broke the story, Gary Webb, was killed by the government and didn't commit suicide by shooting himself in the head twice." ~ unculturedswine420
Give me a Bud
"Not a very big conspiracy but someone told me they heard Corona (beer company) started paying off news companies to stop calling it corona and call it covid instead and I fully believe it. Everyone started calling it covid right after it came out that Corona lost a lot in stocks because of it." ~ Tyriad_
Sleep Lies
mess reverse GIF by Jordan FisherGiphy"Mattress firm is affiliated with money laundering. They have so many stores very close to each other in Chicago (miles apart)." ~ Nightcrawler999-
Damn Covid
"That if we were actually contacted by aliens our governments would 100% lie to us. Look at how people act toward COVID, if they thought aliens might invade we'd have idiots shooting at the sky and stabbing people to see if they're shape shifters while other idiots make up random crap like taking horse de-wormer and fishtank cleaner protects you from their mind control." ~ Im_No_Robutt
I'm not sure how much of this is actual information, but none is out of the realm of possibility. I don't know if that is an intriguing thought or terrifying. We'll find out.
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Companies and products rebrand for a variety of reasons.
Sometimes they want to revitalize a dying brand.
Or stay fresh and modern.
Other times they're trying to put a negative public image in their rear view mirror.
And sometimes, someone somewhere in a company has low impulse control.
Anyway...
Reddit user PulakHasan asked:
"What's the Weirdest Rebranding of all time?"
Weight Watchers
"Weight Watchers abbreviated their name down to 'WW' and in doing so, increased the syllables needed to pronounce their new company name."
~ hambone10
"You burn more calories uttering the extra syllables."
~ jungl3j1m
waitr
"Waitr was an extremely successful delivery service here. They had full time employees and you could get food delivered in 30-45 minutes."
"Then, they made everybody an independent contractor and started calling themselves ASAP."
"'As slow as possible' caught on and they lost the majority market share within a month."
~ bravesgeek
GiphyHBO
"I still don’t understand HBO dropping probably the most prestigious name in cable tv/streaming."
~ stoneman9284
"Right?! Also it literally means Home Box Office - that’s the best name for a streaming service????"
~ oreos_in_milk
Nordic Choice Hotels
"Nordic Choice Hotels rebranded to 'Strawberry'."
"They have to mention their old name all the time, because Strawberry could be absolutely anything."
"If only it were 'Strawberry Hotels' but it's not. It's just Strawberry."
"They removed the part that explains what kind of business it is."
"Madness."
~ WoodSheepClayWheat
GiphyUSWest
"USWest-->Qwest-->CenturyLink-->Lumen I don’t care what your name is."
"Can I have more than 10mbps DSL at my address?"
~ Trickycoolj
"In Europe, and it's now Level3--> Centurylink--> Lumen--> Colt."
"I'm sure they rename in the hope people forget the incompetence."
~ ConsciousValence
"My mom has worked for them since 1977 when they were Northwestern Bell."
"She's been through a billion name changes."
~ CorporalBB
Circuit City IQ Crew
"Circuit City rebranding their PC technician division from IQ Crew (which predated Geek Squad, by the way) to..."
"Firedog."
"I worked at a Circuit City from 2005-2008 and we all thought it was a prank when we saw the announcement."
"'The intensity of fire with the loyalty of man's best friend'."
"I sh*t you not—that was the marketing."
~ Tiberius_Jim
GiphyBritish Petroleum
"When after a major oil spill, BP changed their branding to Beyond Petroleum for an ad campaign showing how they were investing in renewables."
"Logo change too."
~ RandomAmuserNew
"An oil spilled followed by a huge effort to cover it up, including dumping Corexit into the water to mix with the oil and make it sink."
"So it was no longer visible from aerial shots, but it did far, far more damage mixed with a dangerous chemical and sitting on the sea floor than slowly evaporating or being soaked up on the surface."
~ LurkerOrHydralisk
Amoco
"When BP purchased Amoco, they quickly rebranded all the stations to BP."
"Not sure if it is everywhere but Amoco had a lot of brand recognition in the Midwest and a lot of people just didn’t like BP."
"Eventually, they started rebranding some of their stations back to Amoco to cash in on nostalgia."
"I always thought it was dumb but never realized that so many people hated it until after I worked for BP (very briefly) and was told the story of how much pushback they got."
~ anitabelle
British Petroleum (BP Oil)/Paul Sableman
Overstock.com
"Overstock.com I think qualifies for weird rebrand."
"Bed Bath and Beyond went out of business and was bought out by Overstock and then Overstock just rebranded everything to Bed Bath and Beyond."
"If you go to overstock.com it’s just BBB."
~ WhatsABuckland
Snoop Dogg
"When Snoop Dogg (temporarily) changed his name to Snoop Lion to make a reggae album."
~ RomanOnARiver
"Snoop’s original name on Death Row was 'Snoop Doggy Dogg'. When he left Death Row and went to No Limit, he had to alter his name (which might have been his original name) to 'Snoop Dogg'."
~ GotMoFans
"Snoop’s mother used to call him Snoopy as a nickname which is the origin."
~ OpanaMan
"The Charles Schulz people would have had a field day."
~ GotMoFans
GiphyBooks-A-Million
"Books-A-Million to 'BAM'."
"I was in a parking lot with one and had no idea it was a bookstore, as I was a bit too far out to see more than 'BAM' from where I was parked."
~ lynnyfox
KIA
"Everytime I see the new KIA logo I assume its a NIN [Nine Inch Nails] fan."
~ vinyalwhl
"I thought it was KN for an embarrassingly long time."
~ VulfSki
"KIA changed their logo on their cars and Google showed an uptick in the searches for 'K N cars' because people liked the look of them but didn’t realise it was a KIA."
~ User_Deleted_Content
Mark Chan on Unsplash
Royal Mail
"Royal Mail deciding Consignia was the way to go forwards."
~ PonITdude
"They wanted to go international but they lost so much money that year they had to stay national and reversed the name back."
~ ShinyHead0
"Twitter to X."
~ sandiercy
"And then everyone still refers to it as Twitter."
~ Safety_Drance
"'A user on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted…'.”
~ tommyk1210
"Rather like to see 'A user on Twitter, erroneously known as X, posted...'."
~ SagittaryX
"'A user on twitter, largely unknown as X, posted...'."
~ Pinksters
"A few days ago, I saw an article that said 'Twitter, which Elon Musk incorrectly thinks is called X for some reason...'."
"That was pretty funny."
~ temalyen
GiphyCity Landmarks
"In Chicago we still call it the Sears Tower [renamed Willis Tower in 2009]."
~ baccus83
"And in Pittsburgh, it’s still Heinz Field [renamed Acrisure Stadium in 2022]."
~ NoVaBurgher
"And in Toronto, it’s still the Skydome [renamed Rogers Centre in 2005]."
~ nonanarchist
"And in New York when you take 287 across the Hudson it's still the Tappan Zee Bridge [renamed Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in 2017]. "
~ keytarin
"A lot of LA people still call it Staples Center [renamed Crypto.com Arena in 2021]."
~ New_Simple_4531
"In Denver we will always say Mile High Stadium [renamed Empower Field at Mile High in 2019]."
~ SheBrokeHerCoccyx
Some rebrandings make perfect sense to the public.
Others are utterly baffling.
What would you add to this list?
Reddit user b-secret asked:
"What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever Googled?"
How Much?
"what's the alcohol percentage in 70% rubbing alcohol?"
~ LightsJusticeZ
"55% alcohol, 15% rubbing"
~ FishOfFishyness
Who?
"I Googled my work because I couldn’t remember my boss’ name after working there for 8 months."
"I just blanked and couldn’t think of it."
~ HCxTC
Spellcheck
"I Google how to spell restaurant all the time."
~ ParkOk6450
"I'm like that but with Febuary."
"EDIT: February"
~ NeoNero_x
"I go into incognito mode to check spellings of words I should know how to spell."
~ LordCaptain
GiphyUm, No.
"I was trying to find the name of those signs where a word is written down the side and each letter is used for a descriptive word."
"Confusing I know."
"So here’s an example: False Evidence Appearing Real"
"I know it has to have a name. So I googled 'Sign where every word starts with a letter' and Goggle responded with 'Did you mean a sentence?'.”
~ Team_Lift
Looks Like...
"Googled green beans once, was super high and forgot what they looked like."
~ testies2345
"I did the same thing with beets."
~ Jjetsk1_blows
Gaby Yerden on Unsplash
That Movie, With the Guy and the Stuff...
"I'll forget the name of a movie and just type in random sh*t I think I remember. Usually it works."
"Like 'that movie where the kid sleeps and has weird dreams and flies on a bed'."
"Works like a charm."
~ fohsupreme
Did They Have Blue Feet?
"big boobies"
"I was only 10."
"I was surprised to find some."
~ PoopPower99
"I’m 39 and I Google this every day."
~ dekkact
"They're nice birds but are they really worth Googling everyday?"
~ redwolf1219
Blue-Footed Boobies
GiphyPredictive Text
"I used to search something like 'no clothes' or 'without clothes' or something like that when I was a kid."
"Then I learnt the word NAKED because of the TV show Naked and Afraid."
"Then searched it so many times that my autocorrect started to show that word first when I wanted to type something."
~ sniper8207
NSF...S?
"My favorite band growing up was 'The Barenaked Ladies'."
"When I was at school, I once Googled them and clicked on a link that said 'free shows!'."
~ BW_Bird
Good Description
"I forgot what a 'gondola' was called so I typed in 'Thing that carries you through the mountains in a basket'."
~ TheGreatJaceyGee
"I once forgot the word for 'door' so my brain reached for adjacent concepts, smashed them together and threw them out my mouth: 'house portal'."
~ Tail_Nom
GiphyIt Just Doesn't Translate
"I have to search a random word 'auf Englisch' or a random word 'auf Deutsch'."
"Every damn day."
"It took me a minute to realize that there was no way to translate Schadenfreude into English."
~ grammar_fixer_2
Ah, Memories...
"I found out that as long as you're logged into Google, all your searches are saved to your Google account (I'm not talking about browser history)."
"So I looked back, and the 1st thing I ever googled after getting a Google account was 'Can ducks fly'."
"I've no idea why I googled this. I know ducks can fly."
~ caca__milis
GiphyYou Ate What‽‽
"Once I was with some friends and I was telling them about how when I was a kid we only got to eat nuts as a special treat around Christmas."
"Then I mentioned how much I liked squirrel nuts and no one knew what they were. So I Googled 'squirrel nuts' with image search."
"Not at all what we ate at Christmas time."
"Finally found out what my family called 'squirrel nuts' were actually called hazelnuts."
~ 123fofisix
100% NSFW
"A few years ago my coworker and I were looking at the calendar at work. It had pictures of birds and we were trying to figure out what kind of bird was pictured for that month."
"I can’t remember what she thought it was, but I darned sure it was a Great Tit."
"We have a great relationship and have been working together for a long time but we tend to argue like an old married couple. So we went to Mr Google for the answer."
"Let me tell you that Googling Great Tit at work isn’t something I will ever do again."
"For the record, I was right. The bird was a Great Tit."
~ pi11bott
Great Tit holds an insect in its beak
A Perry on Unsplash
Hope some of these folks remembered to clear their browser and search histories.
So, what's your hilarious—or embarrassing—little Google secret search?