TREEHOUSE OF ERROR

Even though the Simpsons are now Coca-Cola spokesmen, that hasn’t stopped the soda giant from spreading lies about Our Favorite Family. Over the past year, Coke has made a big push to emphasize its historical roots, including resuscitating its long-dead founder, Dr. John Pemberton. Without mentioning names, an interactive Coke history quiz attributes the “Diet Coke and Mentos” fad that swept the nation in the 2000s to Bart Simpson:

diet coke bart simpson

They should have checked their factoids. Barring some forgettable Season 15 episode, the only Simpsons moment that comes close to that is the immortal scene from “Homer Badman” when Homer macgyvers a can of the fictional Buzz Cola and a bag of Pop Rox to form an improvised grenade, and presumably kills dozens with the resulting explosion, which you can see in this animated gif I just spent 15 minutes looking for:

homer pop rocks explosion

Now, why in the world would those corporate fatcats at Coca-Cola want to distance themselves from that? Why even bring The Simpsons into this at all? You may have won the Cola Wars, Coke, but that doesn’t give you the right to rewrite history. [Coke Time Machine]