False memories: new study asks 100 people to draw football badges from memory alone – the results are shocking!

• New experiment explores the so-called ‘Mandela Effect’ by testing people’s memories of the same six badges
• Tottenham Hotspur is the most memorable club with participants scoring the highest on this badge
• Manchester United and Arsenal were the hardest to remember

To test everyone’s drawing and memory skills, Betsperts has conducted a new study asking people to draw the ‘Big Six’ teams’ badges from memory alone.

The study includes some of the most established clubs in the world, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal. Analysis ranked the six teams against five criteria: primary colour, secondary colour, wording, detail, and shape for a total score of 25.

However, despite their popularity, recalling these teams’ logos from memory turned out to be a tricky task for participants, showcasing the so-called Mandela Effect in action.

The Mandela Effect refers to a situation where a large group of people believe a specific event occurred when it did not. The term was coined in 2009 by Fiona Broome to describe her false memory that Nelson Mandela had died in a South African prison in the 1980s, when in reality he passed away in his home in 2013.

Examples of the Mandela Effect can be found throughout popular culture, such as in the famous but much-misquoted Star Wars line: ‘Luke, I am your Father’, which actually goes: ‘No I am your Father’. Or the classic children’s TV show ‘Looney Tunes’ which many remember as ‘Looney Toons’.

Mandela Effect: football badges

Although football enthusiasts will be used to seeing club crests at least weekly, the experiment discovered a blind spot when it came to recognising significant details within each logo.

Just three participants achieved a perfect score on at least one drawing and nobody scored full marks across the board.

Which Premier League team has the most distinguishable badge?

The study revealed that Tottenham Hotspur is ingrained in football fans’ memory the most with an impressive total average score of 15.81/25.

Overall statistics for Tottenham from the experiment include 87% of participants including a football, an astonishing 91% including the bird and 14% failing to include the main colour of the logo – blue.

Manchester City is in close second place as the most recognisable with a total average score of 15.6/25. 90% of participants remembered to include the main colour of sky blue for the Manchester City badge. As well as this, 52% of participants included the ship and 32% remembered the red rose. However, 83% failed to include the date mark of 1894 on the logo.

Chelsea follows in third place with a total average score of 14.9/25. Like Manchester City, 90% of participants were able to recall Chelsea’s blue primary colour.  As well as this, 61% of subjects were able to remember the club’s mascot – the lion – which is not an easy task in itself!

However, the one detail which pulled up fans short was the red footballs, with 72% failing to draw these.

Which Premier League team has the hardest-to-remember badge?

Manchester United and Arsenal clearly have the most difficult badges to remember as both these teams scored lowest in the experiment.

Manchester United officially has the least recognisable logo with a total score failing to meet the halfway mark with 10.64/25. This was perhaps unsurprising as the logo is made up of various elements. 86% of participants attempted the team’s mascot – the red devil and 58% successfully remembered to include the shield. However, 76% of subjects failed to include the yellow ship which sits underneath the ‘Manchester’ text of the logo.

In a close second for the most unrecognisable logo is Arsenal with participants scoring 10.95/25. 94% of subjects remembered to include the main element of the badge – the cannon and 86% of participants included the correct shape. However, 89% of subjects failed to recall all three colours of the logo.

Liverpool takes the spot for third place with a total average score of 11.55/25. Clearly, participants struggled with this design as only 3% scored top marks for detail. 83% of the subjects failed to include the club’s motto of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.

Nonetheless, 33% of participants remembered to include the green ribbon which sits at the bottom of the badge and 80% drew the club’s mascot which is a liver bird.

Austin Harper, co-founder of Betsperts, said: “We were surprised to see how many participants struggled with this experiment, remembering elements of each badge very differently to how they appear in reality – and to how fellow participants recalled them, too.

It just goes to show that despite seeing team badges week in, week out, we’re not always truly looking at them!”

Source: https://www.betsperts.com/football-badges/