Maybe instead of freaking out about the Mandela Effect, we should be freaking out with our willingness to just believe corporations at their word. Because that's who seems to have the final word in all of these things, especially in situations where you can't go back and check original artifacts. I'm guessing there's still some old Berenstain Bears books at garage sales and vintage Pikachu merch is everywhere, but who's holding onto 40 year-old underwear or peanut butter jars?

Here's a recent example: Dairy Queen introduced a new Blizzard about ten years ago. It started with a solid chocolate core with ice cream around it. They called it the Fudge Tunnel Blizzard. It was there, on the drivethrough sign, and my friends and I had a field day with it. The branding lasted for a few weeks and then it completely disappeared.

I can't find branding anywhere on the internet. I know it was there, my friends saw it was there. Nobody took a picture and it vanished. I can't find it on google. It's gone. Well, there's some mention of them adding a "tunnel of fudge" to the Royal Blizzard in 2017, but there's zero surviving marketing material for the original concept which definitely did not have a golden spoon. I know this because I ordered it. Repeatedly. To make the people behind the intercom say it back to me.

It makes sense that they'd want to scrub everything that ever mentioned eating a Fudge Tunnel at Dairy Queen. For the other stuff.... who knows? Marketing departments churn, stuff gets lost, short-run logos get left out of the brand evolution. Yeah, some of this is Mandela effect but can we stop treating corporations as the ultimate authority?