The claw-mark M on the energy drink, read by millions as three Hebrew sixes hiding the number of the beast.
Documented
The claw and the arithmetic
McLean Design of Walnut Creek created the mark in 2002 as an M torn by claw slashes for the Unleash the Beast branding, and has stated no Hebrew reference was intended. The claim also fails on its own terms: Hebrew letters-as-numbers are additive, so 666 is written tav-resh-samekh-vav, 400+200+60+6. Three vavs spell eighteen, not the beast.
Assessment: Documented: the design studio's authorship and the numeral system's own math. The Hebrew reading is counterfeit.
Stories
The viral sermon
The theory went mass-market in November 2014 when a lecture video, Monster Energy drinks are the work of Satan, drew 5.7 million views in three days, adding the cross in the O that inverts as you drink and the beast in the slogan. Rumors had circulated since at least 2009 before the video revived them.
Assessment: Stories: a sermon built on a symbol its audience could not read, in a language it could not check.
Interesting claims
The inert symbol
The can sat in stores for years as a claw. The 666 appeared only after someone narrated it, which suggests the logo did not encode fear, the story did. The audience completes every hidden message.
Assessment: Interesting: apophenia with a distribution network. The symbol was inert until the telling.
Sources and further reading
McLean Design, creator statement on the 2002 claw-mark identity
ABC7 News, Nov 12 2014, report on the viral 'work of Satan' video, 5.7 million views in three days
Snopes, Nov 2014: Hebrew 666 is written tav-resh-samekh-vav, not vav-vav-vav
Monster Beverage Corp. v. Maple Leaf Sports, TTAB 2021, M-Claw mark record
Worth asking
If a symbol only becomes sinister after someone narrates it, who designed what?