Recall Chronicles: 40 Facts About Recalled Products You Should Know

Nike had a t-shirt in its stores that said "Boston Massacre" with blood splattered across it. The T-shirt was created for Yankees fans to highlight series sweeps of the Red Sox in 1978 and 2006 and it was a play on the infamous 1770 attack on Boston civilians by British soldiers. However after the Boston Marathon bombings of 2013, it was deemed offensive and recalled.

2. In 1631, almost all the copies of the King James Bible were recalled and burnt due to a minor typo. The Seventh Commandant stated, "Thou shalt commit adultery." It was called the 'Wicked Bible' or the 'Sinners' Bible.'

3. In 2014, Walmart China had to recall donkey meat products because testing revealed they contained fox meat.

4. In 2014, Hot Pockets issued a major recall after the meat in their product was found to have been processed using diseased or unfit animals. The USDA wrote the products were "unfit for human food."

5. A Teletubby Po toy was recalled in the late 90s for calling kids "faggot" and telling them to "bite my butt."

In 2007, CBS released a CSI toy that included a fingerprint dusting powder that contained up to 5% asbestos. Finally, 20 months after an asbestos victims' organization made this fact public a recall was carried out.

7. Insane Clown Posse was once on a Disney-owned record label. On the scheduled day of release for their record "The Great Milenko" however, Disney recalled all 100,000 shipped units upon discovering the graphic nature of the album's lyrical content.

8. BMW had to recall their GPS system because male German drivers refused to take directions from a female voice.

9. In 1998, Sony released a Night Vision camcorder that inadvertently could see through people’s clothes while it was in an infrared recording mode. About 700,000 units had to be recalled.

10. During World War 2, the US government recalled all paper currency circulating in Hawaii and replaced it with notes stamped with "HAWAII". In the event of a Japanese invasion of Hawaii, all currency captured would have been easily identifiable and would be rendered worthless.

On four separate occasions, British retailer B&Q has had to recall their sonic mole Repeller in their Northern Ireland stores after being informed that there were no moles in Ireland.

12. In 1997, Reebok released a line of athletic shoe for women named ‘Incubus.’ They immediately had to recall 180,00 pairs of these shoes after news stories broke out that Reebok had named women’s shoes after a mythological demon that rapes women in their sleep.

13. The first-ever product recall of food because of its genetically engineered ingredients was when Taco Bell brand taco shells were pulled from stores after tests confirmed the presence of an ingredient not approved for human consumption. Most bioengineered corn and soybeans are considered safe for humans, but StarLink corn contains a pest-repelling protein, Cry9C that may be hard for humans to digest.

14. Little Shop Of Horrors was the first-ever DVD in history to get recalled. In 1998, a disc was released to stores containing a "black-and-white, un-scored, un-dubbed video copy of the original ending that looked like sh*t."

15. In 1974, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued 80,00 lapel buttons promoting toy safety. The buttons later had to be recalled because they contained lead paint, had sharp edges, and were considered a choking hazard.

The original theatrical trailer for Disney's "The Tigger Movie" was recalled by the studio because parents complained that the background music was "Semi-charmed life" by Third Eye Blind, a song about crystal meth addiction.

17. When Mitsubishi released a car called the Pajero, it had to be recalled in South America. Its name had to be changed because Pajero translates to wanker in Spanish.

18. In 1962, in anticipation of the 1963 release of the movie, "Son of Flubber", Disney/Hasbro released a product similar to silly putty. In 1963, the putty caused more than 1,600 cases of face and throat rashes in children, so the product had to be recalled. The recalled units could not be burned or dumped at sea, so they were buried under a Hasbro parking lot instead.

19. "Toxic Waste" sour candy which was imported from Pakistan into USA and many other countries was recalled in 2011 after it was found that it actually contained toxic levels of lead.

20. In 1999, a product recall was issued for 19 million dive sticks, a pool toy that sinks to the bottom and stands straight up underwater, after several injuries involving rectal and vaginal impalement were reported.

In 1979, action figure company Kenner released an 18" Xenomorph action figure (from the movie Alien). It was recalled shortly afterward due to complaints from parents about it being "too scary" for children, leading to it living in infamy in the action figure community.

22. Airbags by Takata (an auto parts manufacturer) had to be recalled in 2008 because faulty inflators exploded and shot shrapnel-like material at vehicle’s occupants. At least 37 million vehicles were affected.

23. In 2007, there was a massive worldwide recall of a children's arts and crafts toy called Aqua Beads. Around 4.2 million units were recalled in USA alone after it was found that its production facility in China had used a cheap chemical that was a pharmacologically active sedative drug which left kids comatose after they ingested the beads.

24. In 1997, Mattel and Nabisco collaborated to make an "Oreo Fun" Barbie. In the African American community, Oreo is a derogatory term meaning that the person is "black on the outside and white on the inside". After much criticism, Mattel recalled the product.

25. In 1999, Burger King recalled Pokeball containers after an 18-month-old girl suffocated on the promotional item for Pokemon: The First Movie. This led to one of the most expensive recalls in history in which the containers were returned to a local Burger King for small-fries.