# Marlboro in bed with KKK? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2000, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274 "2000-08-05T20:36:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jasonb94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@jasonb94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonb94)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/1 "2000-08-05T20:36:22Z")
A friend of mine who smokes Marlboro Reds was showing me how there are three k’s on the box, and how the horses’ legs on the Phillip Morris logo outline two hooded klansmen who are holding the banner across the bottom of the logo. I have to admit that I can see these guys, and it looks obvious enough once it is pointed out, but I have a hard time believinh that such a large company could get away with something so revolting to society at large. Take a look. Anyone else see the hooded fools? If so, is there an explanation for it? It seems to me that if those are really klansmen on a cigarette box, there would be some sort of backlash against PM. Anyway, thought I’d submit this for the Dopers’ insight. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/2 "2000-08-05T20:41:25Z")
Check [The Urban Legends Reference Pages](http://www.snopes.com). It’s a myth. Read the article [right here](http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/marlboro.htm) and see for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/3 "2000-08-05T20:44:15Z")
Gah, I missed the chance to look smart by posting a URL, hmph :p. ---
**Author:** ![jasonb94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@jasonb94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonb94)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/4 "2000-08-05T20:50:29Z")
Matt- Thanks for the link. I still think the appearance of the hooded figures is quite a striking coincidence. One wonders why the logo couldn’t be modified slightly to eliminate the speculation and possible negative press. Any way, thanks for clearing that up. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/5 "2000-08-05T21:28:18Z")
I have this odd feeling of [deja vu.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=6832) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/6 "2000-08-05T21:32:41Z")
What always amazes me with things like this, Proctor and Gamble, Snapple, etc. is WHY someone would think that a corporate entity having an association to they would want to keep secret would deliberately plant clues all over their packaging. If you strain hard enough, you can probably make something sinister in a large percentage of commercial packaging. Let’s see, I just went to the cupboard, and on a whim, took out a box of “Swiss Miss”. On the front it has a cup of cocoa. The foam in the steaming cocoa cup produces an outline that looks rather like Africa with smoke rising from its interior. The symbolized attitude towards people of color should be readily obvious. It is made even more damning by the fact that the one thing wrong with their outline is that the Cape of Good Hope is pointed the wrong way, ie. TO THE RIGHT. This indicates their intended “divorcement” of South Africa from the fate indicated by the rest of the picture, and desire to return to the policies of apartheid … This could be a fun sport. Go to the cupboard and interpret your own consumer products. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/7 "2000-08-05T21:37:43Z")
It does happen occasionally. IIRC a few years ago the Italian football club Fiorentina (a major player in the Italian league) hurriedly pulled their new kit design. It turned out that the pattern on the shoulders consisted of intertwined swastikas. Not a good PR move, especially given Fiorentina’s perennial problem with their Ultras (bands of violent, often neo-Nazi, “supporters”). ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/8 "2000-08-05T21:42:30Z")
You’re right…I went to the cupboard and first thing I saw was a vermicelli package and I am sure that I saw the face of Jesus in the noodles depicted on the front. What’s up with this I thought? I checked the label and it is produced by an organization I won’t reveal due to the potential backlash but let’s just say that they are a bunch of bible thumping multi level marketers… LOL. I suddenly have the urge to go to church and repent all my sins… Help me… ---
**Author:** ![nebuli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@nebuli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebuli)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/9 "2000-08-06T00:08:02Z")
I’ve discovered evidence that a major American corporation has been secretly taken over by organized labor- if you rearrange the letters in “Nabisco Saltines” they proclaim “not a scabs line”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nebuli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@nebuli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebuli)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/10 "2000-08-06T00:53:13Z")
D’ohhh! “ **is** not a scabs line” nothing like messing up a joke that wasn’t worth anything in the first place… I think I’ll just go stick my head in this oven now. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/11 "2000-08-06T05:05:35Z")
How about this one? This one I did. In the radio station I used to work in, we had a Pepsi drinker. (shudder) Anyway, this was late 80’s, when they introduced their new cans. One having neon lights in curved patters. On a whim, I lined up two cans, and sure enough the word “Sex” appeared. This was a summer promotion. I _wish_ I’d saved those two cans. Dangit. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/12 "2000-08-06T06:53:50Z")
I remember the Pepsi “sex” cans, I even found a picture of it: [http://sbe.d.umn.edu/subliminal/pepsisex.htm](http://sbe.d.umn.edu/subliminal/pepsisex.htm) I generally tend to think these things are coincidences, myself. I remember another one. Several years ago, wasn’t there some tennis shoe manufacturer who had just come out with this new product line, the name of which, in Arabic (maybe), was the name of God in some religion? I can’t remember if it was an actual English word name, or if it was just a symbol on the shoe that resembled “God” in Arabic, or whatever language it was. As I recall it offended quite a few people, but I can’t remember what happened to the shoe. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marlboro-in-bed-with-kkk/28274/13 "2000-08-06T07:07:48Z")
Ah, I found the shoe. It was some Nike Air shoe where the symbol was similar to the Arabic writing for “Allah”. [http://www.sneakers.pair.com/gloss-a.htm#Allah](http://www.sneakers.pair.com/gloss-a.htm#Allah)