Definitely not a Mandela Effect!

This is an example of how rebranding should be done.

There are many reports of people remembering dashes where they aren't seen today, or the other way round such as Kit-Kat, 7Up etc. The concern is always that a business is well aware of how important it's branding is, often investing millions over the years, and so would definitely not tinker with it without good reason. And when they do, they usually make a big splash about it so their customers are in no doubt at all what's going on.

Wal-Mart Stores changed its name legally on 1st Feb 2018 to Walmart. It did this to de-emphasize the "bricks and mortar" feel, following it's response to the phenomenal growth of Amazon and other online stores.

It's been legally known as Wal-mart Stores since 1970, but actually used the branding "Walmart" on it's stores from 2008, so today customers won't notice any change.

However, you can be sure some will still point to them remembering the hyphen as a Mandela Effect. It's a false positive, which is bound to happen once in a while.

Online

The name change chiefly demonstrates the company's growing emphasis on serving customers seamlessly however they want to shop. While our new legal name removes the dash, we're not planning to change the Walmart cheer.