You’ve got to hand it to this department’s marketing people: They’ve tried to spin an embarrassing grammatical error into an intentional theft-deterrant.
When Gloucester’s Public Works Department debuted its $2 trash bags that residents must use to throw out their household waste, it claimed its misspelling of the word “official” as “offcial” was deliberate.
Recycling coordinator Kathy Middleton told Massachusetts newspapers and media outlets that the “intentional misspelling” was supposed to make it easier to catch people who attempt to use counterfeit bags, which had been a problem in the past.
However, John Craig, manager of WasteZero, the company that manufactured the bags, admitted he’d never had a community deliberately ask for a spelling error.
Even though the mistake was all part of Gloucester’s master plan, Middleton noted the next batch of bags the city has ordered will come without a spelling error.