37 lines
6.3 KiB
Markdown
37 lines
6.3 KiB
Markdown
### [Citogenesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_citogenesis_incidents) gone... right?
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I remember his name for the first time and having ths probably intended "huh, that's odd" reaction a long time ago. If you look at the Wikipedia article for [Pringles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pringles) and search for "Julius", it should be relatively easy to not only find his name, but also validate this claim through a citation linking to an [Official document](https://s1.q4cdn.com/243145854/files/doc_financials/2021/ar/Kellogg-Company_AR_2022_Bookmarked.pdf) by Kellogg Company, the owners of the Pringles brand.
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With an official source, numerous additional articles, and many other trusted sources dated before the current cited PDF, this should have *absolutely nothing* to do with [citogenesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_citogenesis_incidents) as mentioned above, but as it turns out, it just *might*.
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A quick web search will show you [many](https://www.bakeryandsnacks.com/Article/2021/09/22/Julius-Pringles-gets-a-makeover-to-celebrate-brands-30th-birthday-in-the-UK) [many](https://www.buckinghamshirelive.com/whats-on/food-drink/pringles-mascot-julius-gets-new-5942616) [many](https://www.rd.com/article/pringles-man/) [many](https://retroist.com/what-is-the-name-of-the-pringles-mascot/) [many](https://consequence.net/2020/12/pringles-mascot-john-oliver/) [many](https://www.yahoo.com/video/real-true-history-julius-pringles-131830442.html) (although this last one *did* skeptically refer to his name, maybe they almost fell down this rabbit hole?) more reasons to assure yourself this isn't some corporate cockup, but it still might be worth looking deeper. There was even a Jeopardy question (answer?) concreting this fact!
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I know it might be more normal for me to write about my weird tech hacks, or at least something vaguely related to my area of expertise, but I found this just interesting enough and digging up weird things is *always* enticing to me.
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It was a normal 4AM on a Friday, when I spent a few seconds to check Twitter, and by random chance, I found a completely unverified, relatively unpopular, unaccredited tweet, making a mind-blowing claim. For a brief second, I thought to myself, and wondered if it were actually true, *what if*... But convincing me that the now-official name "Julius Pringles" was absolutley nothing more than a prank of a well-humored teenager is *not* going to be that easy. If I was going to trust Twitter over any other documentation, why wouldn't I trust [this tweet](https://twitter.com/Pringles_UK/status/1504474540570685448) by Pringles themselves, confirming his name?
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Meet "Playpus Man" ([@Platypus222](https://twitter.com/Platypus222)), the person *apparently* responsible for this name (and ludicrous explanation). According to [this tweet](https://twitter.com/Platypus222/status/1506117845746429956) and subsequent replies, they moderated Wikipedia articles with a great reputation, and then abused their trust to inject various made-up "facts". They expanded on this to also credit [@therealwiseman](https://twitter.com/therealwiseman) as the "true" source of the name, both explaining that they worked together on this alleged hoax.
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> "Short version is that I made up a name for a mustached snack food mascot, added it to Wikipedia, and over time due to luck and a change of ownership it stuck and the company now claims ownership of it."
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WELL... That's a lot to hear, but it should be pretty easy to confirm or deny, Wikipedia has an edit history. So I picked up a "blame" tool and found the exact edit responsible for introducing the word "Julius" [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pringles&diff=prev&oldid=91948521) and lo and behold it was authored by a user named "Platypus222" in 2006, well there we go, we've confirmed it! Well, not quite. The mysterious "Platypus Man" himself also said "Some will claim that the company probably just used it before that but you'll never find proof of that.", so despite his suspious uncited insertation, this *may* have been an existing name, and the addition of "you'll never find proof of that" sounds like a challenge to me.
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True, it appears *very difficult* to find any source of that name pre-dating that Wikipedia edit, but not impossible. Curiously, one of the few results I could find, was a [drawing from Danbooru](https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/9727).
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The date on the left clearly shows this was uploaded in 2005, ultimately disproving the wacky "hoax" hoax. Interestingly, this appears to be the first upload on this website featuring Pringles to any extent, though that seems to be of little importance. Right?
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I actually asked the great Platypus about this weird image, and he correctly pointed out that interestingly, the uploader of the above picture, joined the site in 2007, putting the 2005 date on the Julius image uner question. So unless somebody else can step forth, there is *no* prior usage of the "Julius" name prior to the phony Wikipedia edit. I didn't think think there was any chance I would end my weird little quest by almost entirely confirming this absolutely insane origin story of the "Julius" title, but here we are.
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But it's too late, he may have injected his friend's made up name onto the Wikipedia article, but that name is real now, this is a true, verifiable fact - this is the *real* first name of Mr Pringles. One can only guess the convoluted adventure this falsity took to end up as the official name, but it has already happened, so this is not something that can or should be removed, and is not a real candidate for the mentioned list of citogenesis articles. |