This document discusses how new industries and products establish legitimacy by connecting themselves to esteemed predecessors through imagined pasts. It provides examples of how the Scotch whisky industry portrayed an idealized historical narrative to establish credibility in its early days. Specifically, it discusses how distillers hired top advertising talent and blenders launched campaigns to win consumer trust by associating their products with a reputable imagined past for the industry. While this strategy helped Scotch whisky succeed, the document questions if the industry can ever fully separate itself from the legacy of this fabricated historical narrative.