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It seems to me that none of the recent fracas would have occurred if the envelope Warren Beatty had in his hand had "Best Actress Award" stamped in big letters on the front of the envelope.

As can be seen here, the front of the envelope is blank:

enter image description here

Why?

steelersquirrel
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Darren
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    It could be also written on the actual card, e.g. Best Actress 2016: Emma Stone "La La Land". My guess it that there are high chances they'll start doing it from now on. – Chanandler Bong Feb 28 '17 at 11:53
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    Good point. I kind of assumed it would be written inside at least, otherwise this, coupled with the apparent fact that they don't know which side of the stage the announcers will enter, make this the most ill-thought-out system I've ever seen and it amazes me something like this hasn't happened before. – Darren Feb 28 '17 at 11:54
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    @ChanandlerBong And my guess is that there are high chances that, if they start doing that from now on, somebody's going to announce "And the Oscar goes to... Best Actress oops, er, ..." – David Richerby Feb 28 '17 at 16:02
  • @Darren: It has happened before, in 1964. – Eric Lippert Feb 28 '17 at 22:01
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    Relevant: https://medium.com/@benjaminbannister/why-typography-matters-especially-at-the-oscars-f7b00e202f22#.i8bhbkh73 – DaG Mar 01 '17 at 10:37
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    @EricLippert I cannot find anything about this on the Wikipedia page. Are you sure that an incident like this has happened before at the Oscars, and do you have a source for this? – Nzall Mar 01 '17 at 14:05
  • Agreed. Nothing I've read has referenced a prior similar event. – Darren Mar 01 '17 at 14:07
  • I heard of that previous event yesterday – Peter Johnson Mar 01 '17 at 14:15
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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmmi9ksOtt4. Or you might have considered typing "1964 oscars wrong envelope" into any search engine. – Eric Lippert Mar 01 '17 at 15:01
  • Wow. And in that one they managed to ruin two oscars as the wrong one hadn't been announced yet. – Darren Mar 01 '17 at 15:08
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    Congratulations, this question is the winner of the corresponding topic challenge. – Napoleon Wilson Mar 06 '17 at 04:09

1 Answers1

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Actually, it is written on the envelope:

enter image description here

and on the card, although with a very small font at the bottom:

enter image description here

which makes the mistake even harder to explain.

(source)

Chanandler Bong
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    Wow, I haven't seen that in any of the TV footage. Maybe it's hard to read under the glare of the lights. – Darren Feb 28 '17 at 12:08
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    The bottom of the card thing is easy to explain... lots of times they don't pull the card all the way out. – Catija Feb 28 '17 at 12:48
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    Somehow reminding presenters that they are at the Oscars was valued more than reminding presenters what award they are reading? Some decisions will never make sense. – Todd Wilcox Feb 28 '17 at 13:15
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    Good observations! But the "very small font at the bottom" is actually the key to the mistake. Neither host, both septuagenarians, had their reading glasses on; they probably couldn't read the small print. At the bottom it was also very easy to miss, in the stress and focus on the information perceived as relevant. Bad UI design. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Feb 28 '17 at 13:44
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    Note also that gold lettering on a crimson envelope, while being classy AF, is also not a good choice for readability. – Michael Seifert Feb 28 '17 at 14:45
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    @PeterA.Schneider: Warren Beatty did notice that there was something wrong, and paused for a very long time. Faye Dunaway thought he was joking, so read the card promptly. – Eric Duminil Feb 28 '17 at 15:19
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    yeah, it seems clear he realized something was wrong although he wasn't sure what. He paused, then handed it to Faye for a second opinion but she thought he was joking and just read it out. – Tim B Feb 28 '17 at 15:55
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    It should be written in full, on the card: "The oscar for the best .... goes to ...". Just read what is written. – coredump Feb 28 '17 at 18:57
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    As is common in disasters like this, a number of small decisions, actions, and coincidental alignments of conditions united to create the result. – David Schwartz Feb 28 '17 at 23:43
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    And let's not forget we have two pretty darn old presenters that may well use reading glasses or similar in non-stage situations; the "fine print" on the card and envelope would be even less noticeable for them. – mxyzplk Mar 01 '17 at 14:10
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    I don't think the mistake is difficult to explain. The cards and envelopes are poorly designed and difficult to read. Especially for older people, like the two presenting the award. I wonder if the area backstage where the two PWC folks have to hold and arrange the cards is poorly lit just to make their job extra difficult too. – Rob Moir Mar 01 '17 at 17:23