The Mandela effect is a collective false memory formed by the general public. The Mandela effect itself got its name from Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa, who died of a respiratory infection on December 5, 2023. 

The person who coined the Mandela effect was Fiona Broome, who considered herself a “paranormal researcher.” She conducted a study in which she realized that there was a discrepancy between truth and what people remembered. While Nelson Mandela had died of a respiratory infection, multiple people remembered that he had died in prison. 

Nelson Mandela is far from the only example when it comes to false memories formed by the general public.  Some other famous examples are the Berenstain Bears being spelled as the Berenstein Bears or Pikachu having a black tip on his tail. The most famous example is the Monopoly man having a monocle when he canonically doesn’t. This all poses the question, is the Mandela effect real? Or is it just another conspiracy theory?

Junior Johan Polanco said, “I think what causes the Mandela effect is mainly the internet. You have conspiracy theorists such as Shane Dawson spreading these theories and planting the idea into people’s heads. Then they grow up and because they watched those videos, they have that false memory.”

In contrast, some would argue that the Mandela effect isn’t real, and the reason why the public misremembers such large amounts of information is from a place of ignorance and lack of fact-checking.

While misinformation and lack of fact-checking can contribute to the Mandela effect, the fact that the Mandela effect is so prominent among thousands of people shows that it’s not from a place of misinformation but instead a place of misremembering.

The Mandela effect is caused by so many factors, from TV shows such as the Simpsons altering the name of the brand slightly to avoid copyright disputes, or even the internet with fan art or edits of characters from different forms of media, making headcanons into actual canons.

In the end, the Mandela effect is mainly caused by misremembering and the false spread of information. It can happen through the media or the internet. Regardless of ignorance or lack of fact checking, the Mandela effect simply serves as a term people can use interchangeably in order to describe collective false memories.