I don't think P&G is a good example of maliciousness over stupidity. I remember when I first heard that rumor. I was intrigued by it. When I repeated it, I always said, "I heard ...." I never stated it definitively as truth. That isn't to say that the people that started the rumor weren't being malicious, of course.

The current political stuff, however, is probably malicious stupidity (idiots that are looking for reasons) or stupid malicious (let's see if these morons will believe this!).

It's the people that "in power" that are being outright malicious when it comes to these "rumors." Naturally, they aren't rumors when they start then, they're just lies.