Fact Check: Did Fruit of the Loom ever have a cornucopia in their logo? Viral claim debunked

A viral claim recently surfaced stating that Fruit of the Loom, the American underwear and casualwear brand, had a cornucopia in their logo at some point in the past. It refers to a goat's horn-shaped curved and hollow basket or receptacle of similar shapes, with fruits and vegetables falling out of it. Cornucopias are used as a decorative emblem of prosperity and abundance.

On June 26, the company shared a photo of a crossword puzzle on USA Today where one of the hints read:

“Fruit of the ______ (company that in fact does not have a cornucopia in its logo)”

In the caption of the tweet, the clothing brand implied that the general memory of their logo containing a cornucopia is not real, but the Mandela effect is. The current logo of the brand contains a cartoonish image of several fruits including green and purple grapes, leaves, and an apple.

The Mandela effect refers to a type of false memory that pops up when a number of different people remember the same thing incorrectly. It term originated from the widespread false memory that the first President of South Africa, and a noted human rights activist, Nelson Mandela passed away in prison during the 1980s.

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Netizens are not convinced that the Fruit of the Loom never had a cornucopia in its logo

Even though the Fruit of the Loom claimed that its logo never displayed a cornucopia along with the fruits, several users shared an image of a product from the brand, which clearly showed the brand logo containing one. Now it is unclear whether this image is real or altered.

One user on Quora reportedly said that they remember seeing the horn-shaped basket in Fruit of the Loom’s logo when they were a kid, and then they learned what it was called from their school.

If an individual is asked to describe the Fruit of the Loom's logo from memory, they might say that the logo includes the horned basket, or at least, included the basket at some point. This collective misremembering is shared by a large number of people, thus making way for the recent mass bafflement.

Memory cannot always be precise and can change with time. Ann individual might have different memories of one thing in different contexts. What a person may remember about a specific thing, is also often influenced by other people’s opinions. Thus, a piece of widespread incorrect information has the ability to influence individual memories, which gives rise to false beliefs and conspiracy theories.

Some people shared different images of the company’s logo with a cornucopia in it. These images could be circulating on the internet after being photoshopped and thus creating confusion among netizens.

However, since there is no verified image of the Fruit of the Loom logo with a cornucopia in it, and since the company has also officially denied having it in its logo, the viral claim, for now, is being considered false.