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Oops: Misprinted Cereal Box Number Sends Callers to Sex Hotline, Not Charity

Sep. 30, 2010 5:32pm Jonathon M. Seidl

NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco is known for his shocking statements and off-the-field antics. But the latest oh-my moment associated with the Cincinnati Bengal, and involving a cereal box, wasn’t planned — and it’s prompted some apologies.

This week, the receiver launched a new cereal, “OchocincO’s,” that featured a printed number on the box meant to send callers to the charity Feed The Children. One problem: the number connects callers to a seductive voice asking for a credit card number and offering phone sex.

PLB Sports, which specializes in athlete-themed merchandise featuring their favorite charities, helped organize the cereal’s production and apologized for the error in a statement Thursday:

Pittsburgh based PLB Sports would like to apologize for the printing of the incorrect Feed The Children toll free number on Ochocinco’s Cereal boxes that are available in the Cincinnati market. PLB Sports Inc. will be immediately pulling the product from the Kroger shelves due to this mistake. The correct toll free number for Feed the Children is 1-888-HELP-FTC.

PLB Sports Inc. will be reprinting the Ochocinco’s cereal boxes with the correct toll free number.

Rosenhaus Sports, which represents Ochocinco, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that the charity gave the supplier the wrong phone number. The number originally included an 800 designation instead of an 888.

“You do have to admit it is kind of funny. When we dialed it for the second time, I sat there and thought ‘are you kidding me?’ Nobody has found this yet?” Sarah Sand told WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. Sand discovered the error when her 9-year-old daughter dialed the number.

The regional grocery store Kroger has pulled the cereal from its shelves and Ochocinco has apologized for the unintentional mistake.

“I take the blame and apologize to everyone affected,” he told reporters before Bengals practice Thursday. “It’s almost like it was supposed to happen.”

And while he reiterated that he is sincerely sorry for the mistake, he has his own theory as to how it happened: “It’s made in Pittsburgh,” he said jokingly. “It makes you think that somebody playing for the Steelers had something to do with it.”

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Comments (32)

300wm
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 11:19pm
Wow, all I ever got in a cereal box was a crummy little toy. Kids now-a-days!!!

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zman173rd
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 10:56pm
whatchoo on eliasim?

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Eliasim
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 10:23pm
Do this: vote, and then plaster your homes, and stomping grounds with the light, and peace.

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Eliasim
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 10:20pm
One-third of people will become bitter, and then some.

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Eliasim
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 10:19pm
One-Third of people will become extremely bitter, and even another portion of people.

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Eliasim
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 10:15pm
There is just a lot of evil people who are coming out of the closet now, and doing bad things.

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free2bme1961
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 10:12pm
There are no coincidences….everything happens for one reason or another….sometimes it takes awhile for the message to be clear.

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Dustyluv
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 9:49pm
Ochocinco will put the number on his football jersey in Spanish as an apology…

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Larry Sheldon
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 9:41pm
Am I cynical, confused, or what? This “…. mixed up with a sex line” thing seems to happen more than the odds would seem to explain.

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cjbreisch
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 8:44pm
This may be an urban legend, but I seem to recall GM going through the same thing in the early nineties.
They supposedly created a hotline for their GMC trucks 1-800-GMC-TRUCK (yes, I know that’s one too many digits, but the last gets ignored–this is a common thing). And they included the number in the glovebox manuals.

But the number they put in was 1-800-GM-TRUCK, which happens to be the same as 1-800-HOT-SUCK.

Oops.

In an interesting aside, when I was in college, there was a local pizza place which had the phone number 743-3825, which is 743-FU…well, you get the idea.

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MCGIRV
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 8:33pm
Thats a big oops!

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SnapTie
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 7:46pm
Bet you the business picks up now that everyone knows the number. Misguided capitalistic Americans. Gotta Love them.

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flamedone1968
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 7:40pm
Charity for the prostitutes… OK LOL

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OzillaryForPresident
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 7:18pm
What was THAT phone number AGAIN !!!

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Okpulot Taha
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 7:03pm
Any of you ever call a phone sex line? Highly entertaining! I have such a talent with words those girls on the other end are tongue tied within minutes. Shoot, I talked so nasty to one of those girls, she became exasperated and sternly said, “That’s disgusting!” Then she hung up on me.

I suppose she doesn’t like big handsome stallions.

Okpulot Taha
Choctaw Nation

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Jsor2112
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 7:02pm
Same thing happened whan I worked in customer service for Voicestream cellular. 800 instead of 888 and the last digits were “STREAM” I’ll let you imagine the complaints we got.

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FreedomOfSpeech
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 6:52pm
Ha! I love it when this stuff happens.

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BetterDays
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 6:10pm
Here we go Steelers, here we go!

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wingedwolf
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 6:05pm
867-5309 jenny

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- Waiting4George
  Posted on September 30, 2010 at 6:15pm
  great. Like that tne won’t be in my head for the next 4 hours….
  
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americaneagle
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 6:04pm
I learned early on as a web developer to always call your phone numbers before you go live. It’s REALLY important in print, but in the end the charity probably will get more exposure then they would have without the mistake.

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RugDog
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 5:53pm
I wonder how many other phone numbers you could “accidentally” put on cereal boxes?

(I’m a guitar player! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUSNDA7oWhA

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Waiting4George
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 5:52pm
Boxes probably proof read by the union.
“Hey, FTC ain’t a word. Well, helo don’t have no “p”. Uh..OK…
1-800-HELO-DOLL

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RugDog
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 5:50pm
Wow, think of all the numbers you could “accidentally” put on cereal boxes!

(I’m a guitar player! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUSNDA7oWhA )

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Petire
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 5:44pm
lol… fail

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untameable-kate
Posted on September 30, 2010 at 5:40pm
and people say football players are dumb, he’ll sell 20 times as much now

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- Rick-Kalifornication
  Posted on September 30, 2010 at 6:48pm
  “It’s almost like it was supposed to happen.”
  
  THAT, say’s it all.
  
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- VegasGuy
  Posted on September 30, 2010 at 6:50pm
  They should have spelled “Honey” with an “r” while they were at it. :D
  
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