Background: Brand memory and its recollection is one of the steps in the consumer decision- making process according to Engel, Blackwell and Miniard (1995). Recently an internet phenomenon called “the Mandela effect” has become viral. It describes a common false memory within large groups of people. This has led to the question of whether false memories or confabulation exist within consumer goods, and if they, in fact, have an impact on the decision-making process.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify what exactly is behind consumer memories, to investigate if false memories do exist and how they influence the consumers within their decision-making process. This study is carried out in Germany and Mexico in order to see if there are regional or cultural differences within this matter.

Method: The EKB model of decision-making (Engel et al, 1995) is complemented by different types of remembering (Haugtvedt et al, 2008), and together they constitute the theoretical framework. The research follows a qualitative approach, due to the fact that interviews to people in Mexico and Germany were done, where an experiment with partly modified brand logos was conducted. The study is conducted with global confectionery brands to get comparable results.

Conclusion: The results show that the consumers in Germany and Mexico remember the brands differently. Overall, false memories occur. Whereas, discrepancy and coherence have a neutral effect, incongruity shows negative effects on the decision-making. Consumers with less consuming experience of a product tend to have less refusal with items that do not match their memories.