Just one letter. Or a missing comma. It seems like such a small thing. But sometimes it can cause loss of money. And quite a lot. 
The Opposite Meaning of the Biblical Commandment 
A typo in the Christian ledger cost more than $4,500. A very long time ago, in 1631, a copy of the Bible was published in England, in which an unfortunate mistake was made in the seventh commandment. And it would be fine if they just missed a letter or made a mistake. The typesetters “lost” the particle “not”, changing the meaning to the opposite – “commit adultery”. Some joker immediately came up with the name - “The Bible of Adulterers.” The entire circulation was destroyed, and the publisher received a fine of 3 thousand pounds.
Freshly ground pasta with people 
This typo has already cost a more substantial amount - 20 thousand dollars. A Penguin cookbook published in Australia listed freshly ground black people as one of the ingredients in the dish. The public was horrified, because this was an obvious racist attack. The proofreader made a mistake in one single word – pepper. But what is written, as they say, cannot be cut out with an axe. The sold-out copies were not recalled, but the entire remaining circulation (about 7 thousand books) was destroyed.
Expensive ale for a symbolic price 
And this is a very annoying typo. It cost more than half a million dollars. A rare bottle of 150-year-old ale has gone up for auction. But collectors hunting for the coveted bottle could not find it in the list of lots. And no wonder: instead of Allsopp's Arctic Ale, it was recorded as Allsop's Arctic Ale. One single letter - and the lucky guy, practically without competitors, bought the collectible alcohol for 300 bucks, corrected the name and immediately resold the lot for 502 thousand dollars.
Walking erotic 
10 million dollars. Just think about this number. The Sonoma travel agency decided to expand its customer base and placed a banner in the Yellow Pages. But with an error: instead of exotic ones, due to a typographical error, the company offered erotic travel. This provoked an avalanche of calls from interested potential clients. Which, unfortunately, I couldn’t help. The owners of the company sued the printing house for tarnished reputation for $10 million.
Advertising stunt with unexpected results 
This typo could have cost $50 million. How? A car dealer with a representative office in Roswell (New Mexico, USA) launched an advertising campaign in 2009 to attract new customers. The company issued lottery tickets, one of which was supposed to give the lucky winner a win of $1,000. Everything would have been fine if, due to a typographical error, absolutely all the tickets had not turned out to be winning. The total winnings grew to an incredible $50 million. It is clear that the dealer was not able to pay it, so people had to explain the situation and give them a symbolic gift certificate for $5.
0 comments
