Diving into this snack aisle conspiracy confusing the internet. Is it faulty memory, corporate trickery, or proof we’ve shifted universes?
Growing up, I never questioned it, Cheese & Onion came in a blue packet, and Salt & Vinegar came in green. That’s just how the world worked. It was as normal as knowing grass is green and the sky is blue (except, allegedly, crisps don’t follow the same rules everywhere).
Apparently there’s a side of the UK who believe that it’s actually quite the opposite, that Cheese & Onion crisps used to come in a green packet, and Salt & Vinegar came in blue.
Did I miss a section of my childhood?
Welcome to the Mandela Effect!
A psychological phenomenon where many people share a false memory about a specific event or detail, as if it were a true event or period in time, even down to your favourite crisps.
First introduced by Fiona Broome in 2009, who created a website where she shared her memory of Nelson Mandela. She explained how she remembered him dying in prison in the 1980s. When in reality he hadn’t died in prison at all but went on to become the first black South African president, and later dying in 2013.
Though it sounds peculiar, she wasn’t alone in her belief.
And that’s how the Mandela Effect came to be. But, It’s not just crisp colours people debate about — people also vividly remember things like:
The Star Wars franchise, although I have never personally seen any of the movies (yet) , I do remember the famous pivotal lines “Luke, I am your father” (Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back) and so did many others like me. But in reality, the lines were actually “No, I am your father.” – shocker!
Another one, being the fairy liquid adverts I remember vividly a fairy being in the adverts waving a wand and the dishes being cleaned and sparkled, but in reality like many other people it was a false memory and there was never a fairy in the adverts or on the packaging.
And lastly the one that shocked me the most, the fact that the man on the front of the Monopoly box never had a monocle, although I swear he had one before. It turns out he never did.
What a mindfuck – (no pun intended)!
But that’s the thing about the Mandela Effect, why exactly is it that a collective of us remember a particular experience a certain way in comparison to another group who would argue the opposite?
There’s a series of reasons that psychologists have come up with to explain this phenomenon, like:
Confabulation, where the brain fills in the gaps in our memory that it sees as incomplete but it is done so unconsciously and incorrectly, in order to make the memory feel complete.
Then there are others who believe priming is a better explanation, it’s the exposure to specific information or images that can unconsciously influence later perceptions and memories.
For example the Netflix series Black Mirror (Mini Spoiler Ahead)! When I first watched, the second episode of season seven titled “Bête Noir”, Maria remembers the name of the fast food restaurant as Barnie’s but her colleagues remember it being called Bernie’s. However, if I were to ask someone else who had watched the same episode as me, they would argue that it was the other way round.
The directors used subtle shifts in reality and memory to manipulate viewers’ perceptions, a similar way in which psychological priming influences our judgment.
Or maybe it’s just group thinking, we’ve all had those moments where we’ve just gone along with a memory or belief because of a desire to fit in with everyone else, even if we’ve had personal doubts on the actual reality of the event.
Whichever way you want to explain it, I personally think it’s wonderfully weird how we can view certain events or periods differently from one another.
This then brings me back to my original point of this whole piece – the great crisp packet conspiracy!
Popular crisp brands like Walkers have stated that “We’re often asked this! Our Salt & Vinegar and Cheese & Onion flavour crisps packs have always been the colours they are today.
“Contrary to popular belief, we’ve never swapped the colours around, not even temporarily…”
Yet, it still doesn’t erase the fact that to some people, I’ve been living in a parallel universe where Cheese & Onion has always been green and Salt & Vinegar is blue.
And honestly? That might be the strangest Mandela Effect of them all!
