On the Fox game show Million Dollar Money Drop, a couple was asked which product was sold first in stores: Post-It Notes, the Macintosh, or the Walkman. They answered Post-It Notes, which is correct. They were told they were wrong.

Apparently Post-It Notes didn't go on sale nationally until 1980, but were market tested in four cities starting in 1977. So that means they beat the Walkman, which debuted in 1979. The question was not posed as "sold in stores nationally," it was simply "sold in stores." Now, while the couple's reasoning wasn't exactly sound while making their decision, they did sorta blunder into the right answer.

Will Fox correct their mistake? Probably not. But, the couple should at least know they were right, so that poor man doesn't feel guilty for the rest of his life.

Update: A rep for Fox tells us they contacted 3M before the show was taped and were informed by the company that Post-It Notes were sold for the first time in 1980. But several articles, including this one from the New York Times earlier this year, report that the product was sold in several markets as early as 1977 as part of a test, given out as free samples in certain markets in the late '70s, and then sold at retail outlets nationwide beginning in 1980. So it seems fair to say the question wasn't sufficiently clear, considering contestants were only asked when the product was first sold, not when the product was first sold in stores nationwide.

Jeff Apploff, the executive producer of Million Dollar Money Drop, issued us this statement earlier this morning on the matter: "The integrity of the questions and answers on our show are our No. 1 priority. In this case, our research team spoke directly with 3M, and they confirmed that although they had given out free samples in test markets in 1977 and 1978, it wasn't until 1980 that Post-Its were sold in stores. Million Dollar Money Drop stands behind the answer that was revealed on the show."