Michael Aregood (maregood@comcastpc.com)
Mon, 16 Nov 1998 17:27:26 -0500
Some urban legends are a public relations executive's worst nightmare.
They also can tap into racial tensions, and have caused some big-name
local companies big headaches.
Snapple, for example, has been the subject of false rumors that say the
clipper ship featured on its label is actually a slave ship, that the
company is owned by the Ku Klux Klan.
In the early '90s, a Brooklyn-made fruit drink called Tropical Fantasy
was the subject of a boycott because legend had it that the product
caused sterility in black men.
Similarly, designer Tommy Hilfiger has been dogged by stories that he
was kicked off "Oprah Winfrey" for making racist comments - even though
he's never appeared on Winfrey's program.
"The same story circulated about Liz Claiborne," says Patricia Turner, a
professor of African-American studies at the University of
California-Davis, and an expert on urban legends in the black community.
"No matter how many times you explain to people it isn't true, there's
always somebody who insists they have the video tape."
Another big Seventh Avenue name slandered in an urban legend is shoe
designer Kenneth Cole, whose mod mules are said to be made by Chinese
slave laborers. Nope; they're made in Western Europe. Folklorists say
such myths may have their genesis in consumer suspicion of products that
are expensive and suddenly trendy.
"These stories sound ridiculous to outsiders," says Turner. "But they
ring true to their intended audience."
While some African-Americans believed Snapple had ties to the KKK, a
number of whites believed another untrue story - that the company had
ties to anti-abortion groups.
Turner says consumer suspicion of trendy products may be what sets off
the rumor mill. "It's not usually competitors who spread these stories,"
Turner says. "They spread organically - trying to debunk them only seems
to give them new life."
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