Procter & Gamble Co. has won a jury award of $19.25 million in a civil lawsuit filed against four former Amway distributors accused of spreading false rumors linking the company to Satanism to advance their own business.

The U.S. District Court jury in Salt Lake City on Friday found in favor of the Cincinnati-based consumer products company in a lawsuit filed by P&G in 1995. It was one of several the company brought over rumors alleging a link with the company's logo and Satanism.

Rumors had begun circulating as early as 1981 that the company's logo — a bearded, crescent man-in-moon looking over a field of 13 stars — was a symbol of Satanism.

The company alleged that Amway Corp. distributors revived those rumors in 1995, using a voice mail system to tell thousands of customers that part of Procter & Gamble profits went to satanic cults. The company's claim was based on the Lanham Act, which prohibits unfair competition and false advertising.

"This is about protecting our reputation," Jim Johnson, P&G's chief legal officer, said in a statement Monday. "We will take appropriate legal measures when competitors unfairly undermine the reputation of our brands or our company."

The former Amway distributors thought they'd be exonerated and were shocked by the jury's verdict late Friday, said Randy L. Haugen, one of the defendants. "It's hard to imagine they'd pursue it this long, especially after all the retractions we put out," said Haugen, a 53-year-old Ogden, Utah, businessman who maintained P&G was never able to show how it was harmed by the rumors. "We are stunned. All of us."

Haugen said he forwarded another person's account of the Satanic rumor to other Amway salesmen on a common phone-message system, then circulated the retraction. The original message, however, found its way to Procter & Gamble.

Amway has said it acted quickly to quash the rumor and the company was dismissed from the case, leaving the four ex-distributors, who are protected by liability insurance against the judgment, Haugen said.

P&G spokesman Terry Loftus said Monday that the corporation brought a handful of cases against various individuals ? not just Amway distributors ? through the 1980s, with the last one prior to this case filed in 1990. Loftus said he did not have immediate information on the outcome of those cases.

Joseph Joyce, one of the attorneys representing the Amway distributors, didn't return several messages left by The Associated Press on Monday at his Salt Lake City office.

A federal judge had dismissed the lawsuit involving Amway, and a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver agreed in 2003, saying the rumors were not defamatory and that P&G had not made a case for specific damages. P&G, however, got the case reinstated on a further appeal, Haugen said.


Associated Press Writer Paul Foy in Salt Lake City contributed to this report

Amway has a horrific reputation as a Pyramid Scheme. I remember when this gossip first hit the press. I think, if nothing else, it generated strict attention, for probably the first time, to a sales logo. From then on you just know there's scrutiny of anything from Starbucks to Krispy Kreme. ("Whys it spelled with a K? Ewww just one K away from KKK! " "Oh no! You think?" ~paranoia sets in ~ looks at chocolate iced donuts suspiciously~ ) Although 19 million is nothing to a company like this, it still makes them look bad. That's priceless!

Amway is nutty, boy do I agree with taht.

For those that havne't seen some of my other posts... i actually worked for Starbucks for 5 years from 1987-1992 back when they were still a tiny company (9 stores).

Starbucks wasn't immune to this kind of scrutiny, and in fact were forced to change their logo in 1990, because a group of what I can only image were prudes complained. Then they changed it, and the NEXT set of prudes came in, and complained about the second one! What we have today on all our Starbucks cups is a variation of the second logo. I was hoping to find the original logo on the Web but I don't see one anywhere. I have an old t-shirt with the first logo and I have one with the second logo as well... if I get a camera that works, I may post pictures.

The original was absolutely gorgeous... she was also two color, brown with a white background. She was a full length Siren laying sideways in a seductive kind of lounging position with her twin forked tail curling slightly upward. Her hair flowed over her shoulders and she was artfully bare breasted. My own store had a 6' x 3' image of her hanging over the bar! She was simply lovely a beautiful piece of artwork. But so many prudes complained that their sons were goggling at the image that they forced Starbucks to change it or a lawsuit would be impending.

The second logo was a more stylized version of the first, much blockier, and the hair covered the breasts, but her double forked fins (traditional to Sirens) curved up over her head forming a sort of loose circle. The complaint with this one was that it looked like she was sitting spread eagle. Oh for pete sake. Some people.

The third which is on cups now is the same as the second, but it's a close up of her face. I've always hated that one. Bring back the first one I say.

EDIT:

I can't believe it... I found the original logo... this was on the cups, the hanging large sign in my store was a lounging version (it disappeard from the store around 1994):



This was the second blockier version:



Today's Version:

interesting on starbucks, a fun story for behind the chair (I'm a hair stylist) so many are starbuck drinkers here...Coffee bean for me the coffee is organic... the ocassional small soy latte.....

ahahah, you would not believe the suburban housewives that came into the store I managed who covered their 8yo sons' eyes . We got yelled at a lot and people (women always) would voice their disgust fairly regularly. A group of moms went on a letter writing campaign to have the logo removed and managed to get an attorney to back them up. Starbucks actually had that brown logo for some 12 years PRIOR to the letter writing fools.

We used to call our lovely lassy: Serena.. she didn't officially have a name, but we loved her so much that we gave her one. haha

It was actually a sad day when they removed her image and replaced her all because of a bunch of uptight housewives.

Maybe the area, i find this hard to picture here... truthfully the female body is beautiful...well i have this theory on how repressed we are as society LOL....