At new Black Music Walk of Fame, key sponsor's name misspelled
Cincinnati has a new venue to honor famous Black musicians.
And with it, corporate sponsor Procter & Gamble Co. has a new entry in its list of famous typos.
It’s right there, in the center of Downtown’s new Black Music Walk of Fame, inscribed on a panel titled “The Story.”
"Proctor & Gamble" is a founding corporate sponsor, the panel reads.
Oops. Make that Procter.
The misspelling of company co-founder William Procter’s surname – repeated on the Walk of Fame’s website – has plagued P&G since, well, Procter and brother-in-law James Gamble partnered in 1837 to create what is now a Cincinnati-based global consumer goods maker.
“If you’ve ever made the mistake, don’t worry, you’re not alone,” wrote P&G in an April blog post.
The blog page, under the headline “A Long History of Misspelling Our Company’s Name,” features advertisements and letters with the error. (Salutations from Germany and Japan read “Protector & Gamble.”)
Even The Enquirer gets its nose tweaked for using Proctor in an 1864 directory.
News sources are, of course, repeat offenders of the misspelling.
In 2009, The New York Times admitted to having misspelled Procter more than 100 times. (It blamed the Associated Press for the error it was correcting at the time.)
In 2011, the Harvard Crimson ran a correction about using Proctor in a story, while failing to correct the Proctor in a photo cutline.
The Chicago Tribune got it wrong, also in 2011, in a headline reporting the death of former CEO and Chairman John Smale.
The Wall Street Journal admitted to the error in a 2017 graphic about former board member Nelson Peltz.
And yes, The Enquirer still slips up from time to time, too.
Hard to know how many times "Proctor & Gamble" has been subbed for "Procter & Gamble" overall, though. Google's no help on that count, as the wrong version reverts to a search for the right one.
Spelling is apparently a personal choice for some. "What's your reality?" asked a lively Reddit post on the topic in December 2020. Several posters said "100% Proctor." "Neither spelling looks more right or wrong than the other," one wrote. "Who really pays attention to this stuff?" asked another.
No surprise to the people at Proctor, er, Procter.
“People have been misspelling the name of our company since our earliest days,” Chief Communications Officer Damon Jones said this week. “The good thing is that Cincinnatians know us well and know our ongoing support for many great community causes including this one.”
For the record, Jones’ name is used on the Walk of Fame panel and website – accurately in both cases.
Will Hamilton County, which unveiled its $8.5 million Walk of Fame in July, correct the error?
Hamilton County Commission President Alicia Reece – the force behind the project – has asked colleagues “to look into this matter,” according to Vada Stephens, her chief of staff.
A fix could come soon, added county spokesperson Bridget Doherty. "We are working to remedy the misspelling as soon as possible," she said, calling P&G "a tremendous partner."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What did Black Music Walk of Fame spell wrong?
