Peptol-Bismol Fake Logo

Peptol-Bismol

Actually: Pepto-Bismol

Pepto-Bismol, also known as “bismuth subsalicylate” is an antacid medication used to treat temporary discomfort of the stomach and gastrointestinal tract, such as “nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, and diarrhea”, the order of which is used in a lot of their commercials and branding.

Although the history page of Pepto-Bismol describes its name change from “Bismosal”, it doesn’t explain where the “Pepto” comes from. My guess is it has to do with the “peptic” areas of the human body (the stomach and duodenum), which Pepto-Bismol effects. Pepto may be a play on “peptic”.

This is a semi-personal Mandela Effect, as it occurred to me without external prompting, and I have not found any other reports of it (in the normal Mandela Effect sites/forums), besides a handful of mistyped results for it on search engines. It does appear to be a common mistake for some. My intent for publishing it here is to see if others recall the same thing.

Here’s the unaltered logo:

Pepto-Bismol Unaltered Logo
Unaltered Pepto-Bismol Logo

My Experience

I found myself writing “Peptol-Bismol” while creating a shopping list. Later, I found myself wondering why it was named that. To my surprise, it wasn’t named that, it was named “Pepto-Bismol”. Why was I adding an extra “L” in there? How long have I been doing that? I had several questions, and some of which I couldn’t explain. It also appears that I may have discovered my own Mandela Effect. There is references to a Mandela Effect for the naming of to be either Peptobismol or Pepto-Bismol, but none that I could find where they thought an “L” was missing. It does seem like this mistake is not unique to me as searching for “peptol bismol” shows a few mistyped results within search engines. I’m not alone!

Possible Explanations

“Bismol” ends with an “ol”. Maybe our innate pattern recognition is expecting that it should be “Peptol” like “Bismol“. It rhymes too, which also may play towards our expectations of modern marketing and branding.

“Pepto” is similar to “Petrol”. Could the similarity of the words lead to confusion?

“Peptol” is another branded drug entirely, also known as “cimetidine” that has similar (but more specialized) use to Pepto-Bismol. It’s is a histamine H2 receptor antagonist that inhibits stomach acid production.

Additional Sources

5 thoughts on “Peptol-Bismol”

  1. My tongue has turned black since I’ve took pepto I’ve taken it since I wa as young child and never had this experience I’m glad it isn’t permanent and used a toothbrush and scrubber for it. I would suggest making it in a different way or take it off the counter period I will never take this ever again in my life.

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  2. No, sadly this is not a thing. You seem to have a misunderstanding of the Mandela effect. This is probably why you aren’t finding much resonance with this. It isn’t a misremembrance, or an error of memory or an assumption of truth gone wrong. Your sheer disrespect of other human beings will never allow you to perhaps understand that you don’t have all the answers, and neither do we.

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  3. Krystal, eh, no, you’re wrong, so shut up and don’t talk about stuff you don’t understand.

    Never heard people saying “peptol” instead of pepto, so must be a recent thing.

    Reply

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