Bland-Name Product



""And by the way, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the brand Harmin'? But, uh, the manufacturers of this particular toilet paper? No free rides.""

- The Colbert Report

When you want to refer to a well-known brand name, but the legal department is advising you to avoid using trademarks in your show, you can just change a few letters around to thinly disguise the brand name or snowclone the name or use the same color scheme.

A subtrope of Brand X. Compare Parody Names, Scout Out, and Fictional Counterpart. AKA-47 is this trope applied to weapon names, while Burger Fool and Suck E. Cheese's are fast-food and kids' play restaurant examples, respectively.

In some cases the logo itself will be changed to something which reflects the change in name. (E.g. if "Mitsubishi" = "three diamonds", then "Mitsuboshi" will have a logo with three stars, and "Yotsubishi" a logo with four diamonds.)

For some reason, firearm brand names (Beretta, Walther, Smith & Wesson...) aren't too subjected to this trope.

Contrast Shoddy Knockoff Product, which is actually trying to rip people off with names similar to brand names. See also Mockbuster.

WcDonald's

 * WcDonald's or a variant thereof often appears in anime productions (and a few western shows and games) with the McDonald's' golden arches flipped vertically.
 * Inu Yasha in the modern settings.
 * Ah My Goddess in the second episode.
 * Axis Powers Hetalia has "Mc[BEEP]nald's."
 * Azumanga Daioh (Magnetron, with the logo adding a smaller 'G'.)
 * Ballad of a Shinigami (Manga)
 * Cowboy Bebop
 * Shin Chan had DocNamald's.
 * Danny Phantom
 * Darker Than Black had McDoness.
 * Dear Boys
 * Doki Doki School Hours
 * Hikaru no Go had NcDonald's
 * K-On!
 * Kekkaishi (although, since McDonald's actually is a sponsor in the anime adaptation, it also appears as is in one episode)
 * Keroro Gunsou
 * Kodomo no Jikan
 * Kodomo no Omocha
 * Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro
 * Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam had Macdaniel.
 * Moldiver
 * Haruhi Suzumiya
 * Ouran High School Host Club
 * Please Save My Earth
 * Prehistorik
 * Super Dimension Fortress Macross had Macross Nalds.
 * Persona 3's manga. They serve the Peta-Wac Burger, which is Exactly What It Says On the Tin... Peta being the prefix for ten to the fifteenth power. The MC likes them.
 * Ichigo 100%
 * UFO Baby
 * Uta Kata
 * Tsukihime
 * Shakugan no Shana, in the OVA.
 * Sonic X
 * South Park
 * Digimon Savers
 * Super Gals!
 * Beavis and Butthead, where W is for "Burger World" and "Maxi Mart" replaces "Mini Mart."
 * Megas XLR
 * Virtua Fighter; the dub adds a reference to a "Big Wac."
 * Gundam Wing at the end of Endless Waltz.
 * Chaos Head manages to get both McDeinald's and WacTiKald's. Really.
 * Tokko features Wcdon@lds in episode 4, with an "at sign" instead of a normal A.
 * Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple has "Matsuenald's" - a pun on the mangaka's name (Shun Matsuena) - with the "M" logo shaped as Matsuena's hairdo as he usually depicts it his caricature self-portraits.
 * Senki Senki Momotama (a manga by Nanae Chrono), there's the fast food restaurant "McBonald's".
 * Chapelles Show had a sketch revolving around a new employee at "Wack Arnolds".
 * Kira Kira
 * Tokimeki Memorial 2 has "NacDomald's", and its logo has its first arc cut in half, giving the logo an "N" shape.
 * Sleeping With the Girls has one appear in the Sailor Moon universe.
 * Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
 * Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt
 * Holyland has "Wakudonalds".
 * "Was Burger" from School Rumble features the inverted archs in their packaging.
 * Wandering Son characters seem to go to WcDonald's sometimes.
 * Master of Martial Hearts has a frequent fast-food restaurant simply called "Moe", with obvious McDonald's arches.
 * Bubble Bobble - One of the random items enemies turn into upon defeat are WcDonald's French fries. (1000-point item)
 * Prehistorik Man, a platformer.

Anime & Manga
A general note: It's as easy for a Japanese artist or animator to just change one letter of the Roman alphabet and get away with it as it would be for a Western artist or animator to switch out a single kanji.


 * Pocari Sweat was called "Hocari Sweat" in Detective Conan.
 * Also, ONY for electronics.
 * Also, Donny's for Denny's.
 * In a later episode of Minami-Ke Okawari, Chiaki is seen browsing "Nekoneko Douga" (Cat Video), which is a parody of the Japanese YouTube-esque site Nico Nico Douga (Smile Video).
 * Episode 10 of Okaeri prominently features Bringles in several shots, complete with an altered mascot.
 * In Otogi Zoshi, Hikaru borrows a vespa-scooter-thing from "Pizza Hot".
 * Hell Girl has people using the Deegle.com and "Mahoo" search enginse to find the Hell Correspondence website.
 * In Xxx Holic they use GuGoot.
 * Excel Saga:
 * Nabeshin drives a "Mitsubibi Lancer." They also watch news reports on an SQNY television.
 * The "Next episode" buffers take place in front of a giant "20th Century FQX" logo.
 * Death Note has "Gentle!" instead of Google Yahoo! (it must be for refined internet users), Eighteen instead of Seventeen magazine, "Fanto" instead of Fanta, and "Fanasonic" and "Metsubishi" instead of Panasonic and Mitsubishi giant TV sets.
 * And, amusingly: "Mild Turkey".
 * The manga has "Panasonio" videotapes.
 * Also To-oh University, instead of Tokyo. This is despite the story still taking place mostly in Tokyo.
 * TV-wise, it manages to have both NKK and NHN as blanded versions of NHK.
 * There's also a "CAZIO" mini-TV in the "potato chip" scene.
 * Done (a lot) in Eureka Seven with, among others, "Rersi Cola" (which also sounds like "RC Cola", for a double whammy) and "Smickers" bars.
 * Star Driver has "Sougen-Dazs".
 * Cowboy Bebop featured "Pippu" cola, whose color scheme was exactly the same as that of Pepsi.
 * Planetes has "Bepsi," and there's also a Coca-Cola analogue.
 * Witch Hunter Robin also has Bepsi, as well as "Zony" and "Cock Cola".
 * Kodomo no Jikan has a bag of "Buffles" potato chips, complete with the original's slogan in modified form: "Buffles Have Ridges".
 * Mimi can at one point be seen holding two cups of "Starbocks" coffee.
 * Lucky Star has "Rindows" (who knows, maybe it's an Engrish version of Lindows...)
 * Lucky Star also makes references to other anime and video games, even going so far as to bleep the titles out. The soundtrack is full of them as well (Mariya Might Watch Over Us, Bunguster...)
 * The cover of Volume 2 of Lucky Star has Kagami and Tsukasa eating "Poppy" (Pocky).
 * Happy Lesson had "Windiis XXXP", and "Crocrosoft Mord", as well as the usual "Pony" televisions.
 * The Prince of Tennis had "Ponta" as a stand-in for Fanta.
 * Fila's distinctive "F" logo was altered into an "E" (for "Echizen", as in Ryoma Echizen) in the anime.
 * Welcome to The NHK also has "Mindows" OS, a "Pujitsu" computer and a "Lurex" (or something like that) wristwatch, "Warboro"-brand cigarettes, and probably other such brands.
 * Yeah, several beer brands, Starbucks, some MMORPG, and many, many other things get Bland Named.
 * "Espon" laptops appear in the Haruhi Suzumiya anime, and the characters regularly eat at 'WcDonald's'.
 * The latter seems somewhat odd since during one outdoor scene, the background shows what is unmistakably a Sunkus convenience store...
 * This might be subtly lampshaded in "The Misadventures of Mikuru Asahina", which at the end says essentially: "This product is a work of fiction. Oh, except the store endorsements! Those are real. Please shop there."
 * Actually averted by the time the movie The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya rolls around. At one point, a computer boots up and we the startup screen for Windows 95 - which gets a few good seconds devoted to it, of course. They even used the Windows 95 startup noise. See for yourself.
 * A "Nihon" camera appears in the first episode of Negima!? (for those who might not get it, "Nihon" is meant to sound like "Nikon", a noted maker of cameras).
 * Makie enjoys a cold Mr. Paper in the White Wing OVA.
 * In the manga,characters could be found drinking coffee at "Starbooks".
 * As well as one character wearing a "Sax Pascals Anarchy" hat in chapter 27.
 * An aversion can be found in the manga here, as Vaio is a real computer, made by Sony. Although it looks like a netbook, rather than a full-size laptop as the Vaio line is (aside from the W series, released July 2009).
 * Nihon also supplies cameras for Azumanga Daioh, in the anime. There's also a Fuji-like sign (when Sakaki buys her Nihon camera), but no text is visible. In addition, the characters occasionally get food from WDonald's.
 * I think Gin's camera in Rosario to Vampire is "Nokon"
 * in chapter 172, Chisame uses Mahoo?!
 * Similarly, products from "Somy" (and their "Pandycam"), "Mikon" and other similar "manufacturers" can be found in many anime.
 * Ouran High School Host Club does this often, with 'Mational' light bulbs (National), 'PineApple' computers, 'Hescafe' coffee, 'Oh!Laan! Auctions (a parody of Yahoo! Auctions), and 'Ukidoki Memorial' (Tokimeki Memorial).
 * It's especially noticeable in episode 23, when one of the gangsters shows the others a pile of soda cans, all of which are Bland Name Products (such as "8-Up" and "Bprite"),
 * In Ouran the Vaguely Abridged Series, Tamaki asks Haruhi why she bought Hescafe instead of Nescafe, calling it a cheap knock-off.
 * In Asobi Ni Iku Yo there are Somy, OIAV, and PanaX (Possibly a spoof of Panasonic and Pentax).
 * "Puchy" instead of "Pocky" in The iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia.
 * THE iDOLM@STER - Miki's headphones are a Somy, Chihaya lives near a Burger Queen, the camera Yoshizawa uses is a Qanon, among others.
 * "Pochy" takes the place of "Pocky" in Please Teacher. The sequel, Onegai Twins, features a character who eats "Prech", a parody of "Pretz" and a cup of "Starjackass Coffee."
 * In the first season of Initial D, the word "Trueno" (in the front of the hero's car) is spelled as "Toreno". This eventually changed when Toyota allowed them to use the AE86 Sprinter Trueno's proper name.
 * Maybe Toyota wanted Manga/Initial D to stop advertising Ford Torinos?
 * The dialogue also usually referred to the car as the "hachi-roku" ("eight-six"), a popular nickname for the AE86, and the name "Trueno" was seldom (if ever) used.
 * Possibly because the name was used on several generations of later models, which were FWD and therefore of little interest to drifters?
 * In one episode of Ranma One Half, Genma uses a "Seny Gandycam" to record Ranma and Akane's Almost Kiss. In another, Ranma and Akane buy burgers from what is clearly a Bland Name Product version of McDonald's... possibly the ancestor to "WcDonald's" in Inu Yasha.
 * Noein has a "Yonkie" [Yorkie] bar.
 * Black Lagoon has multiple, the most noticeable of which would be the "Heireken" (Heineken) beer the protagonists all drink.
 * Yet there's no issue with them referring to Bacardi, nor is the GTO tag hidden on Benny's car in some shots. Heck, Revy's guns are Beretta 92F customs, which are prominently displayed in the opening sequence and mentioned at least once.
 * Sanzo's 'Merlboro' cigarettes in the Saiyuki Reload -burial- OVA. They're always regular Marlboros in the manga.
 * An episode of Gundam Wing briefly features a circuit board labeled "Intel Outside". In a thermonuclear warhead. This was in the episode where Heero had to disarm a sabotaged missile silo (he does so by simply pulling a few wires).
 * The OEL manga Drama Con has this in spades. "Mcburger Queen," "Mangapop," "Daylodge" and "Taco Hut" appear prominently, as well as references to fake anime such as "Sailing Moon".
 * There's also Pawky, which is an entertaining bonus joke for literary buffs; Half-Metal Alchemist, Fruity Basket, and Wolf's Reign.
 * In Ghost in The Shell, Batou faces robo-Rotties made by "Tonda" (using the same typeface as Honda).
 * There is also Starchild Coffee
 * "Somy" in Ah My Goddess, among uncounted others.
 * Including "Poca-Cola", on which Belldandy gets wasted.
 * Also "Dack Daniels" whiskey.
 * And "God Year" tires.
 * Azumanga Daioh also has "abidas" (adidas) and "Rocky" (Pocky).
 * In a strange twist of real life imitating art, Pocky is indeed sold as "Rocky" in some South-East Asian countries, although the original "Pocky" is available at import stores.
 * Yukimi in Nabari no Ou uses software like Odobe Photograph, Mouton AntiVirus 2015, Saikrosoft Sentence/EXL/Autolock/Postman, and Ninja Seiden (a pun on Ninja Gaiden).
 * Neon Genesis Evangelion has "Yebichu" (Yebisu) beer, carried from the Oruchuban Ebichu manga; the Rebuild of Evangelion movie, however, did had the real Yebisu. There's also a "SECA" video game, odd considering Sega was in fact a major sponsor of the series.
 * The series also features a drinks machine offering "Asashi". This is a take-off of "Asahi" (and its logo), a Japanese beer popular worldwide.
 * In Project A-ko, we briefly see a can of "Doctor Bepper."
 * The first episode of Shakugan no Shana shows the protagonist entering a music and DVD store named HNV with an all but identical HMV sign overhead.
 * Tenjho Tenge has some very Narmful cans of "Caca Cola."
 * Transformers Super God Masterforce features CNM News, Dunpop Cars, and Camon Cameras.
 * Genshiken has the group going to a Doujinshi sale convention called "Comifes" (Comiket).
 * Interestingly, in Genshiken, all of the games the boys/girls play aren't product-changed, but the SYSTEM they play them on is. There's a wonderful image of a popular PS 2 game sitting next to what is clearly a PS 2 controller with the brand name "SANY" on it.
 * Not only that, they've got anime and manga that are very clearly famous series In Everything But Name. Series like Neko-Yasha and Astro Girl, Mode Riisu and Anman-Dama. Only Gundam makes it through unscathed, and even then, only in the manga.
 * There's also a "Starbooks Coffee".
 * There's also a "Kujifilm" camera, which doubles as a Shout-Out to the Spin-Off Show Within a Show Kujibiki Unbalance.
 * And there was an "MG" model kit which turned out to be a Humongous Mecha, not a British sports car.
 * MG is an abbreviation of "Master Grade", the detail level of Gundam model kits by Bandai. There a three of them: High Grade, which are cheapest and simplest, Master Grade, which are much, much more complex, and Perfect Grade -- the large-scale monstrosities costing hundreds of dollars, standing two feet tall, and taking months to build, paint, and pose.
 * The TV in the Genshiken room is a "Pehasohic" (Replace the h's with n's and it becomes obvious what they are getting at).
 * Lampshaded in Toradora, when Ryuji wonders how a "Sudohbucks Coffee" has yet to be sued.
 * Chaos Head...where to begin? Deluoode, Taboo!, Animeight, @Channel, MewTube, McDynald's...TheOtherWiki becomes "We-Key Pedophilia". Surprisingly, Coca-Cola remains unchanged.
 * At least one episode of Kamen no Maid Guy features a "Meido" laptop, with a logo patterned after Sony's Vaio.
 * There are also such Sony Vaio laptop spoofs in Sekirei
 * One episode of Digimon Tamers has a mom telling her daughter that "Bernard the Dinosaur" is on.
 * One Piece has an in-universe version; Doko1 Panda, cheap knockoffs of the in-universe clothes brand Doskoi Panda.
 * There's a straight example with one character drinking "Jacky Daniels", though.
 * Keroro Gunsou has featured in its manga Mahoo! (instead of Yahoo!), Keuters (instead of Reuters), KerockTime (instead of QuickTime, probably because the software is from their homeworld) and Nendo CS (instead of Nintendo DS). The Kerons also use barely disguised Apple computers.
 * Mahou Sensei Negima also uses Mahoo!, or rather Mahoo!?
 * The Yu-Gi-Oh manga had Sory and Panazonic, and the anime has "lemon'' computers.
 * In Melody of Oblivion, Bocca buys Sayoko dinner at 'Starducks Coffee'.
 * In the Japanese version of Rockman EXE, Yaito's father is the president of Gabcom (ガブコン), a pun on Capcom (カプコン). Since Capcom made the Rockman EXE series, this was probably meant to be a parody of the trope.
 * In Fushigi Yuugi, Miaka gives some "Creen Gum" to Tamahome (while keeping the "Lotte" part intact) and later in a flashback shows her using a "Pontax" digicam.
 * Hayate the Combat Butler has a tendency to do this, given its sheer volume of Shout Outs. The most obvious example is the Ai-Dollar-Master video game in Episode 20.
 * There are also "Pony" televisions and "Seako" clocks.
 * The last episode of season 2 is a ~15 minute, disaster-ridden search for a box of 'Packy'
 * Conspicuously absent in Twentieth Century Boys. Everything shown or named on this page, for instance, is real. (The extra level of real-world grounding makes it especially strange that nobody comments on the character names that are blatant shout outs to classic sci-fi manga.)
 * Although a "Suny" brand music player does appear at least once.
 * Yatta-la Kernagul wants to open a chain of fried chicken restaurants called "Kernagul's Fried Chicken" and a hamburger chain called "KerDonald's".
 * Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro had a 'Zeep' as well as 'Wacintosh'.
 * Yaiba's nemesis Takeshi has a wide-screen made by "Ony".
 * In one of the extras in the Da Capo TV Series, Miharu has a desktop PC whose OS is "Windoors 2000", and she surfs a website called "Ahoo!" (Japanese site, hence its url ends in ahoo.co.jp) where she does online auctions.
 * In Narue no Sekai, Kazuto's PC's OS is "Minboms '97".
 * In Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, the opening has Kurz looking through a dirty magazine with a hot babe on it titled "Play Ball."
 * Kaname gets a "Pizza But" ad in her mail.
 * Popotan uses both "Mikon" and "Monica" cameras.
 * To Aru Kagaku no Railgun has a laptop with "Designed for Macindows EXP: Macindows BST Capable" and "Outel Cora i7 outside" stickers. Truly an abomination worthy of the end of days.
 * Game Non Stop in Midori no Hibi.
 * StartBoxs (sic) Coffee in Darker Than Black 2, episode 11.
 * The original also had "McDonness Burger" and "Lufanser" airplanes. Which makes the Pizza Hut billboards all over the place seem even stranger. The dub, however, replaced all the Pizza Hut logos with "Pizza Slice", creating another example of this trope.
 * NtarBucks Coffee in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
 * There is also a Lampshade Hanging in an episode of Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei where a radio labeled "SONV" with an offhand comment "so Sony used to be Sonv, then?"
 * One character in Ikki Tousen is shown sending a text message on a "Sany Ericssan" cell phone.
 * In the opening to Baccano, it's possible to see chocolate bars by "Herseey's" and "Nostle".
 * Akumetsu has such gems as Weekly Tsop.
 * Seiyu, Walmart's Japanese branch, shows up in several anime and manga, such as Hey Yu in Shakugan no Shana, Heiya in Kodomo no Jikan or Seiyo in Kemeko Deluxe.
 * Done hilariously for a military organization in Ladies Versus Butlers: during the school festival, the festivities are kicked off by an airshow featuring F/A-22s sporting a livery similar to that of the USAF Thunderbirds, along with the phrase "I AM CHICKEN" written on the fuselage and wings, plus the letters "CSAF" on the wings as well.
 * One chapter of Ai Kora features Nanako Sideway, a shopping plaza based on the real-life shopping plaza (and otaku haven) Nanako Broadway.
 * While the manga of Slam Dunk is filled with sports brand names everywhere, the anime had to work around it, usually just not drawing the brand name. However, there was at least one instance in which a brand name was simply modified into "adadis" instead.
 * DHL becomes DHU in Neon Genesis Evangelion and BHL in Battle Programmer Shirase.
 * Miyabi's car in Ai Yori Aoshi is a BMW Z3, only the BMW logo is red instead of blue. They also get out a "Twinsters" party game in one episode.
 * Before the current fad of Pizza hut sponsorship, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid had "Pizza But".
 * The Sky Crawlers features such products as Pops-Cola and Treasure soft drinks (with logos that resemble Coca-Cola and Pepsi respectively), Green Label beer and Leopard cars.
 * Tamayura sports "Coco Cola", but then averts the trope with actual Rollei and Nikon cameras.
 * Bleach shows a "Handin Donuts" sign at one point when Tatsuki is searching for Orihime, instead of "Dunkin' Donuts" of course.
 * Keima of The World God Only Knows plays all his myriad Dating Sims on a PFP. In one episode this is shown to stand for "Play Field Personal", which almost sounds like the name of a Shoddy Knockoff Product.
 * The local Idol Singer also advertises "Poca-Cola."
 * All of Keima's gaming systems are Bland Name Products, some of them more obvious than others.
 * Commonly done in the manga of Kochikame even when it's only shown in one panel which are usually store chains or food products. Sometimes, actual real brand names are used, usually the expensive European cars.
 * Nana of Nana to Kaoru uses the "Moogle" search engine to do some independent research before Kaoru accepts her apology.
 * Averted in the Bakuman｡ manga, where the Mangaka main characters hope to get their work published in Shueisha's Shonen Jump magazine, and submit works for Akamaru Jump. Played straight in the anime, when it's Yueisha, Shonen Jack and NEXT, respectively.
 * Little House With an Orange Roof has a few examples. In chapter 2, Shoutaro's youngest son tries to watch "Momas the Tank Engine".
 * Shuffle features a "Tochiba" microwave.
 * "Rocky" in place of "Pocky" in Madoka Magica. There's also a Dance Dance Revolution stand-in called "Dog Drug Reinforcement."
 * Durarara is full of Bland-Name Product for various advertisements, billboards, and products seen around Tokyo, usually misspellings of real brands. In episode 11, when Shizuo is talking about the meaning of life (or something), in the background there's a sign with a man on it who looks suspiciously like Colonel Sanders. Durarara also has Yohoo!, Amezon, Yo!Tube, etc. Mikado buys a computer with "Mindows" on the package and during startup it boots up "Wbunte".
 * Dotachin shares a drink of Red Snake energy drink with Mikado at one point.
 * The second episode has a billboard for "Yahaha" motorcycles.
 * In Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Rena finds a Kenta-kun doll in the town landfill, and there is a restaurant called "KCF" that the Kenta-kun doll came from. Guess who Kenta-kun looks like.
 * We see tickets for Titamic in Kimi ga Nozomu Eien.
 * Averted in Kurau Phantom Memory with Carrefour (in the year 2110!)
 * Soul Eater gets bonus points for tying theirs in with their Theme Naming: "Deathbucks Coffee"
 * Although the Future GPX Cyber Formula series have some actual brand names put into ads, there are some of them like these such as "Comel" (Camel cigarettes) and "Umited Celors of Pemetton" (Benetton clothing). And there was a racing team based on the clothing company in the 90's, which happened around the time series was made.
 * In Hidamari Sketch:
 * Hiro has a Pony (Sony) television.
 * Nori's computer has a Shaftsoft Wonders operating system. (The logo is four colored squares, straight, not wavy, and rotated 45 degrees with the upper right squares shifted to the upper left. The green and blue squares are swapped, and there's a lighter green square where the yellow would be.)
 * She also has a Furbo (Furby).
 * In King of Thorn features two computer-related ones: at one point we see a 'Mindows' (Windows) operating system, and the computer that conjures up is a 'Bell' (Dell).
 * In Clannad, The early drama club room has a cardboard box for a Somy PC laying around.
 * In the Spiritual Successor to Chaos Head, Steins Gate MewTube and @channel return, in addition to the IBN computer brand and SERN. Dr Pepper remains unchanged, though.
 * Computers in Angel Beats all run on Macrosoft's Winding XO system.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL has "Space Nook''.
 * Wandering Son both averts this and plays this straight at random. Sometimes you'll see actual brand names and at other times you'll see Bland-Name Product's. In the anime you can see "Star Ducks" at point point instead of "Starbucks" - though in the manga they mentioned Starbucks by name.
 * An episode of Paranoia Agent features a crime manga serialized in Shonen Champ, or perhaps Shonen Chump.

Comic Books

 * In Ultimate Spider-Man, the search engine used by Peter Parker is called Goggles Do Nothing.
 * Which is, sadly, an actual website that infects you with all manner of spyware. I guess they Did Not Do the Research...
 * Meanwhile, back in the regular Marvel Universe, the name "Mc Burger's" is used whenever someone needs to refer to a burger chain, and there is a frequently villainous oil company by the name of "Roxxon Oil".
 * In the comic book adaptation of the 2007 Transformers live action movie, Sam Witwicky tries to sell his grandfather's glasses via "ePay".
 * This continued in the later Alliance miniseries, which briefly featured two of the All Spark-animated robots from the movie; Dispensor, the Mountain Dew vending machine, was shown shooting cans of "Mountain IDW" (a Shout-Out to the comic's publisher), while the Xbox 360 robot was re-labeled a "Y-Box".
 * Depending on the writer/artist/era, a lot of DC Comics, especially those aimed at teenagers (ie, the "sidekick" books like Robin and Teen Titans) will have a number of these. Examples include "Sundollars" coffee, "Crocky the Dinosaur," Zesti Cola and its competitor, Soder Cola, the Heavy Stone Cafe, and, of course, "WcDonald's".
 * Notably, The Martian Manhunter has a crippling addiction to "Chocos" cookies, which used to be a crippling Oreo addiction. He didn't change preferences, the writers just retconned this trope in.
 * Zesti, Sundollars, Heavy Stone, and Crocky were all created by Chuck Dixon on the Bat-books. He also came up with Curtains '98 software, Winkyworld amusement park, and O'Shaunasseghy's burger bar (a Shout-Out to a Denny O'Neil pseudonym).
 * Archie Comics In a story where Jughead eats at every restaurant in a 50-mile radius, Riverdale has a "Windy's" (Wendy's-The mascot character's just Frecklebitch with buck teeth.) And a "McDougals" (McDonald's).
 * A well known fast food chain in the Archie universe is "Colonel Dandy's". Colonel Dandy is clearly a Colonel Saunders Expy.
 * Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For has "Papaya Republic," "Buns 'n Noodle" (Barns and Noble), "Medusa.com" (Amazon.com), "Panthouse," "Mothra Stewart" magazine, "Stairmistress" and more.
 * Empowered has lots of this: "YouToob", "Grant-a-Wish Foundation", you get the idea.
 * German comic strip Ottifanten uses Würger King (with a W that looks like the arches turned upside-down), which is both this and a Punny Name (würgen = to retch).
 * Sinister Dexter mentions My SpaceFace Book, among others.
 * As well as Basrtsucks Coffee, which could double up as an Unusual Euphamism
 * A Horndog strip features a "Sharkie" marker.
 * In Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers' phone is made by a brand called Samsnug.

Film
"Cleo McDowell: Look... me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds."
 * Coming to America lampshades it, as the owner of the fast-food restaurant McDowell's gripes about McDonald's trying to sue him over (what he feels are) trivial similarities.


 * Ironically the movie was shot in a converted Wendy's.
 * Later, it is shown that Cleo has a McDonald's operations manual in his possession, which he quickly puts away.
 * In Idiocracy, Brawndo is largely a stand-in for Gatorade. The main character, who's from the present day, even mentions that it "tastes just like Gatorade". In a bizarre twist, Brawndo became a drink in Real Life - and is a citrus-flavored energy drink, like Monster and Amp, rather than a sports drink like Gatorade.
 * Legend has it they wanted to use Gatorade, but Gatorade refused. Several other real companies agreed to allow their names to be used, even though they were used in a disrespectful way (Fuddruckers, Costco, Starbucks, Carl's Jr.).
 * In the Evil Dead films, Ash works at the local S-Mart, an obvious stand-in for K-Mart. The store's catchphrase "Shop Smart! Shop S-Mart!" kind of makes you wonder why K-Mart wasn't called that originally.
 * In the Waynes World films, ubiquitous Canadian restaurant Tim Horton's Donuts becomes the film's fictional Stan Mikita's Donuts. Horton and Mikita are both Hockey Hall-of-famers. Actor-writer Mike Myers grew up in Toronto, where Horton played; character Wayne Campbell lived in Aurora, outside Chicago, where Mikita played his entire NHL career.
 * Disaster Movie shows screenshots of sites named "FaceNook" and "uPay". Which are then promptly referred to in dialogue as Facebook and eBay. I guess the owners of those sites didn't give Seltzer and Friedberg as much money as Apple did.
 * Over the Hedge, a Dreamworks CGI film, includes in animal cast three porcupine kids who can steer a van using skills learned by playing "Auto Homicide 3".
 * Tapeheads has RVTV (Rock Video TV), a thinly-veiled stand-in for MTV, who wouldn't let the filmmakers use their name.
 * The Left Behind film series has Buck Williams working for Global News Network (GNN).
 * Undercover Brother.
 * When General Boutwell sets up a chain of fried chicken restaurants, he calls it GFC, General's Fried Chicken (AKA KFC/Kentucky Fried Chicken).
 * Penelope Snow and Antoine Jackson go shopping at Khaki Republic, which was based on Banana Republic.
 * The Toy Story series films has Gyoza (Japanese for "dumpling"), a parody of Toyota. The only known car made by that company that was ever seen in those films appears to be a yellow pickup truck used by the Pizza Planet restaurant whose logo (written on its tailgate) appears to have been scratched out, leaving behind the letters "Y" and "O."
 * Shrek 2 has stores such as "Farbucks Coffee" (Starbucks Coffee), "Burger Prince" (Burger King), "Gap Queen" (The Gap), and "Baskin Robinhood" (Baskin Robbins).
 * Lightning Mc Queen from Cars appears to be wearing Lightyear Buzzard tires, an obvious parody of Goodyear Eagle tires. It also appears to be a reference to Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. And there's Al Oft, the Lightyear blimp.
 * Airplane! does this with a flashback involving Supperware, an ersatz of Tupperware.

Literature

 * In About the B'nai Bagels, protagonist Mark keeps a copy of Playboy-like magazine under his mattress called Playgirl. Another boy's mother actually gets him a subscription. Later editions changed it to Playboy. (The book and Playgirl magazine were first published the same year, 1973. E.L. Konigsberg had no way of knowing that a real magazine of that name would exist.)
 * Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon features the heroes using a UNIX-like operating system developed in Finland, called... "Finux". Supposedly, this is because Neal knew a lot about the inner workings of Linux, but wanted to have a little bit more freedom on what was possible.
 * This book also features the Electric Till Company (ETC) instead of NCR (National Cash Register).
 * One of Harry Turtledove's Alternate History series has the most popular soft drink in the Confederate States of America being "Doctor Hopper".
 * Also the popular Confederate comic book "Hyperman." In both cases, characters occasionally think about the "Damnyankee drink/hero with a similar name."
 * Lampshaded to an extent in 2001: A Space Odyssey and its many sequels. HAL's designer patently denies any relation between the computer and IBM - whose initials are all one letter after H-A-L.
 * Word of God states that had he realized the connection, he would have changed HAL's name, as IBM helped them make the film.
 * Whereas other product placement is depicted quite normally, although many of the then-contemporary companies had ceased to exist by 2001. There still isn't a "BBC 13", though.
 * Good Omens gave us the "Burger Lord" chain.
 * Scott Westerfeld's novel So Yesterday not only censors out brandnames with asterisks but, as the entire plot deals with consumer culture, Lampshades it by having characters refer to a certain brand as "the client" and the Narrator explaining exactly why.
 * The Dilbert Principle tells advertisers to take advantage of their customers' stupidity to confuse competitor's products with their own "eerily similar but much worse" products. The suggested product names include "Honduh Accord," "Porch 911," and "Popsi Cola."
 * Zombies For Zombies has dozens, such as PutriSystem.
 * The Daily Prophet of Harry Potter is totally not the Daily Mail. Totally not.
 * Christopher Brookmyre's Intrepid Reporter Jack Parlabane works for the Scottish broadsheet The Saltire, and its sister paper Saltire on Sunday, which are clearly The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday.
 * Dracula has the Dailygraph newspaper (Daily Telegraph) and Kingstead Cemetary (Highgate Cemetary, near Hampstead).

Live Action Television
"Frasier: "La-Z-Guy." I wonder what they call the deluxe model? The "Hopeless Slack-Ass?""
 * In Korean Series:
 * Gu Jun Pyo is on the cover of "Borbes" magazine in Boys Before Flowers.
 * Min Woo is wearing a "Permes of Paris" shirt in Oh My Lady.
 * The cereal loving Jerry Seinfeld had "Double Crunch" cereal in his cupboard before Product Placement deals landed real life cereals in his apartment.
 * "Morley", a fictional cigarette brand based on Marlboro cigarettes ("Marleys" - the box design didn't exactly hide it either), was the brand of choice for The Cigarette Smoking Man (of The X-Files) and Spike (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Packs of Morleys have also turned up in Malcolm in The Middle, Burn Notice, The Outer Limits, and the movies Spy Game, Prozac Nation, and Thirteen, as well as elsewhere. The X-Files episode Brand X lampshades this fairly heavily.
 * A number of episodes of the TV series Friends feature "Love That Crunch" cereal, which is otherwise completely the same as "Cap'n Crunch", including the character on the front.
 * An episode of Too Close for Comfort has Cartoonist Henry Rush in Hollywood to turn his comic strip character Cosmic Cow into a Network Cartoon Show. The pitch meeting takes place in a room with a giant window that shows a panoramic view of the city, including a billboard for 'J&C' Scotch Whiskey.
 * Played with on an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, where witches trying to magically create brand goods automatically create a Bland-Name Product equivalent with an obviously similar name, such as "N&N's" instead of "M&M's" and Butterthumbs instead of Butterfingers. They couldn't even have Rollerblade inline skates, instead, they got Roller Blahds. According to Hilda, this was the result of the Witches' Council intervention after the market was flooded by magically created Gucci knockoffs.
 * An episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show has Mary buy a "Fast Wheels" car racing set for neighbor Bess (Hot Wheels).
 * An episode of Homicide Life On the Street has a character drinking "Bedwiser".
 * Skist, the soft drink choice of Veronica Mars.
 * In the Hobgoblins episode of MST3k, an educational short Crow has made is shown on a "Stony" TV.
 * In Beetleborgs, a bottle of "Fountain Don't" is used to trick one of the main characters to drink a mutation potion.
 * Used to an extreme in every single Nickelodeon show produced by Schneider's Bakery Productions. This includes All That and The Amanda Show (mostly lampshaded) and also Drake and Josh and Zoey 101. Extremely narmful in I Carly, where their webshow is called 'iCarly', but they still listen to 'pearpods', talk on their 'pearphones', lug around oversized 'pearpads', and all the computers have a pear logo on them. It's the same with sister show Victorious.
 * The i in I Carly stands for Internet, not as a reference to the Apple products. Though Dan Schneider himself has a liking on Apple computers, thus he parodies it in the form of the Pear products in the show.
 * iCarly also featured that orange rag they sell on TV at two in the morning, the "Sham-Pow."
 * Zoey 101 seemed to favor putting a school emblem over the manufacturer's logo (as was also done on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide).
 * Even Big Time Rush does this, e.g., "Cosmopilan", a bland-name version of Cosmopolitan
 * The fictional girlie magazine Playpen which made its first recorded appearance in an episode of The Sixties Sit Com That Girl and is still going strong. Spot it in Married With Children, Malcolm in The Middle, Family Guy, That 70s Show, Kyle XY, The X-Files, Millennium, Friends, Lost, NCIS, Rules of Engagement...
 * A You Can't Do That On Television sketch featured a kid's mom finding his stash of "Playtoy" magazines.
 * A recent episode of The Bill featured the police looking for clues on the young female kidnap victim's "Face BookSpace" page.
 * The 'Friendface' episode of Sit Com The IT Crowd features, as well as the eponymous social networking site, soft drink "Cuke", resplendent in exactly the same packaging as Coca-Cola.
 * In a later episode: "This man has no online presence. He's not on Friend Face, he's not on Jitter"
 * Harry Hills TV Burp had a skit featuring the shopping channel OVC, instead of QVC.
 * Coronation Street characters buy their food at "Freshco" rather than Tesco.
 * Later lampshaded by Harry Hills TV Burp with a skit about them going to "Frainsbury's" (Sainsbury's) as well.
 * Murphy Brown has a box of Dunkin' Donuts in almost every episode... except the familiar logo has been changed so that it reads "Donuts Donuts".
 * Frasier: The brothers go to buy a new recliner for Martin and the salesman recommends a "La-Z-Guy" chair.

"Sheldon: I have no trouble believing you're not butter."
 * The Middleman created "Your Face in a Tube", simultaneously making us think of My Space, Face Book, AND YouTube in one awesome website name.
 * The JAG and NCIS team, regularly view reports from the ZNN news channel.
 * NCIS does this with several different brands. GSM for FHM, Cybervid for Youtube and Pagebook for Myspace/Facebook, depending on what the plot demands. Possibly the strangest example is the 'Bearey Smiles' talking teddy bear ment to be a stand-in for the Tickle Me Elmo craze of the nineties. It's... underwhelming.
 * Beary Smiles is a third-rate Teddy Ruxpin.
 * DC Blend as a stand-in for Starbucks is probably the most noticeable because the cups are on almost every episode.
 * Averted when it's their own network being shown. Twenty Four will show Fox News, Law and Order will show NBC, and so forth.
 * Makes perfect sense.
 * Cue Spooks, a BBC show, courting some controversy when Sky News popped up in an episode.
 * In the university canteen on The Big Bang Theory soft drinks such as Dr Peeper and Diet Cola are sold in cans identical to the real life brands. Sheldon's non-existant cousin (who was made up to fool Penny) had apparently escaped rehab and was staying at a Motel 8.
 * After being disappointed by the taste of orange juice and amount of crispiness of a toasted english muffin in one episode of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon addresses a tub of margarine.

"Tonya: Mom! Chris got hit by a bus!
 * The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica Reimagined had a Spaceline called Pan Galactic which used an identical symbol to Pan Am, examples of which can be seen here and here.
 * This was apparently a Shout-Out to 2001: A Space Odyssey rather than a get around for copyright. Which would make slightly more sense In Universe since the series is set over a 150,000 years prior to Pan Am ever existing.
 * It kinda also sounds like a shout out to Hitchhiker's Guide's Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.
 * Chuck features a smoothie place called "Orange Orange". Their logo is written in a font identical to that of Orange Julias's logo. They also have Buy More, a poorly-disguised version of Best Buy. Instead of a Geek Squad, they have a Nerd Herd.
 * In the "Everybody Hates Halloween" episode of Everybody Hates Chris, Julius buys Gravy Ways (Milky Ways), M&N's (M&M's), and Butterthumbs (Butterfingers) as a way of saving money on Halloween candy.
 * The family also uses Tussin (Robitussin cough syrup) as a cure-all for every type of ailment.

Rochelle is seen grabbing her purse and an economy size bottle of Tussin as she runs out the door."

"Castle: MyFace? Don't you mean--
 * Tussin is actually an "off brand" name. Cheaper version of the Brand name but perhaps not quite as effective. Sold in Walmart stores, for example.
 * In one episode of Castle, the title character's mother is making a "MyFace" account.

Alexis: Don't bother, I've been trying to correct her all day."


 * In another episode the team is tracking a money order from a bank called "Machovia."
 * Doctor Who occasionally features the Alphabet News Network "AMNN," most often during News Monopoly scenes.
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer has "Tito's" brand potato chips show up on numerous occasions. The bag looks very similar to a Frito-Lay Ruffles bag.
 * Degrassi tends to come up with Bland Name Products for anything media-related, and avert it otherwise unless something is an independent small business in-universe. They seem to use a lot of Canada-only brands so the aversions aren't immediately apparent to viewers in the US and elsewhere.
 * They also use fictionalized names for Canadian universities but real names of U.S. ones.
 * In the Amanda Bynes sitcom What I Like About You, Amanda's character buys an "I-Bop" and downloads hundreds of songs onto it.
 * Season 7 of Twenty Four involved a chemical weapons threat perpetrated by none other than "Starkwood," the U.S.-based private army-- security contracting firm.
 * Leverage had an interesting twist to this in season 1: Instead of having fake products, they would have *real* products, but would never show their names or labels. For example, Hardison is clearly seen drinking orange Jones soda, but the front of the label was always against his palm or otherwise turned away from the camera.
 * On the US/Canadian version of Queer As Folk, Michael worked at the "Big Q", a thinly disguised Kmart.
 * In Little Britain, Judy and Maggie belong to the fictional "Women's Association" instead of the Women's Institute. In the initial broadcast of their sketches, they were from the Women's Institute, but it was hastily changed when the real organisation did not want to be associated with such vulgar characters.
 * Notably averted with Warehouse 13 in the episode "Love Sick". TigerDirect features prominently in the plot, as the Villain of the Week was employed here.
 * In an early episode of Sliders the gang visited an alternate world where computers ran on the "Doors" operating system.
 * CSI has a few examples of renamed Playboy-type magazines.
 * The CBC High School Sit Com Mr. D is an interesting case; the school's name (Xavier Academy) and uniforms suggest it's a Catholic school, but that's never stated outright and there are no priests or nuns in sight.
 * In Hidarime Tantei EYE, characters can be seen using a search engine called "Bogel"
 * In the Supernatural episode "In My Time of Dying," Sam uses a "Mystical Talking Board" to communicate with.
 * In the Unforgettable episode "The Man in the Woods", the main characters visit a diner whose beer list includes Spam Adams and Limstel.
 * Averted and lampshaded at once in the Season 4 NCIS episode "Witch Hunt," in which a teenage witness reports the car used in a hit and run is a Kuruma. Gibbs takes it as misdirection since it's the Japanese word for "car," but McGee points out it's the stand-in name for a Chrysler Sebring in Grand Theft Auto III.

Music Videos

 * Owl City's "Fireflies" video features a Type & Speak (not Speak & Spell) toy.
 * Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop" video takes place in a Burger K Ing clone.

Newspaper Comics

 * Dykes to Watch Out For does this constantly to parodic effect: "medusa.com," "Bounders Books & Muzak," "Bunns & Noodle," "Bed Bath & Bite Me," "Papaya Republic," etc. The best was a publishing house, "Furrier Sprout & Genoux."
 * In Get Fuzzy, the characters are often seen going to McDoody's to get a Howdy Meal.
 * They also have a fish-and-chips chain called Cap'n Dawson's (both referencing "Captain D's", and allowing a Jaws reference by covering parts of the word "Dawson's" with the edge of the frame).
 * FoxTrot is chock full of this, mainly on the magazines or newspapers the characters are reading. Names such as Arper Shimage, Waxmell House and Gique are frequent.
 * Don't forget "Iron Mysticus", "Doomathon", "Duke Nukem Quakem", ''World of Warcraftquest", the iFruit, and the BackSync Boys.
 * Zits has "FourBucks Coffee."
 * A curious example from Baby Blues: Hammie has a G.I. Joe Expy called Action Man. Action Man is the British name of GI Joe. Did the (American) writer know this and use it purposefully, or did he just make up Action Man as a generic toy name?

Tabletop Games

 * Shadowrun
 * Averted in some cases, such as sourcebooks listing purchasable vehicles made by Ford and Chrysler.
 * McHugh's (AKA McDonald's) is where shadowrunners go for a cheap, fast burger between runs (and to meet Mr. Johnson), according to The Neo-Anarchists' Guide to Real Life.

Theatre

 * Finian's Rainbow has the catalogue of Shears and Robust. Mr. Shears and Mr. Robust themselves make an appearance.
 * The Sera Myu has Banzai as a sponsor for show they're preforming in one of the musicals (specifically Eien Desestu's revised version) Bandai was a Sponser for the Sera Myu. In a bit of a subversion, they don't replace Bandai and are said to make Omochi (Rice Cakes) instead of Omocha (Toys)

Video Games

 * Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 had "McBurger Kong" restaurants. It featured a giant gorilla statue on the roof, and if you garrisoned the building, you'd get some monkeys to control. There is also McRoo] Burger and Massivesoft.
 * Disgaea 3 Absence of Justice had Mao playing an unnamed but strangely familiar RPG on his Slaystation Portable.
 * The first Disgaea had Captain Gordon asking for a Teriyaki Pizza from "Pizza Shack" to be waiting for him when he returns.
 * Disgaea Infinite has Amazombie and Faildows.
 * An item from Castlevania Portrait of Ruin is called Penters Natural. (Werther's Original)
 * Fallout has Nuka-Cola! Two hundred years after a nuclear war they're still good! They also come in Nuka-Cola Quantum, which is enhanced with a mild radioactive strontium isotope, which gives it a kick and a pleasing blue glow.
 * This can even be done with a Public Domain Artifact. Gilgamesh in Final Fantasy V is taken in by the legendary sword Excalipoor.
 * In Final Fantasy VII, Cloud is forced to hijack a motorcycle in order to escape from Shinra HQ. It's a Hardy Daytona.
 * Just about every car model in the Grand Theft Auto series is a Bland-Name Product version of an existing car. Examples include the Mundano (Ford Mondeo), Counthash (Lamborghini Diablo in GTA 1), Beast/Banshee (Dodge Viper) (the Banshee was a Corvette in Vice City), Impaler (Chevrolet Impala), Bug (VW Beetle), Penetrator(Jensen-Healey Interceptor), Benson (Mercedes-Benz 300 SL), Aniston BD4(Aston Martin DB4), Phoenix (Pontiac Firebird), Fortune (1990s Ford Thunderbird), Cheetah (Ferrari Testarossa in III and later), Infernus (Lamborghini Diablo in GTA III, although San Andreas replaced it with a Honda NSX), Blista (Ford Windstar), and U-Jerk truck.
 * It's also important to point out that very few vehicles (at least in the later 3D sequels) are actually exact replications of the car. Although you can usually tell what it's supposed to be mimicing (especially iconic vehicles), it will never be completely accurate (not including the new name).
 * Grand Theft Auto IV also uses "Panoramic" instead of "Panasonic".
 * San Andreas and IV also had Sprunk soda, a obvious reference to Sprite.
 * Grand Theft Auto London 1969: Fat=Fiat, Squealey=Austin Healey, James Bomb=Aston Martin DB 5, Crapi=Ford Capri, Myni=Mini Cooper, Locust=Lotus, Reno=Renault, Harold=Triumph Herald, Raver=Rover, Jug Swinger=Austin Powers Jaguar E-Type, MC Hamper=MG Midget, S-Cart=Ford Escort.
 * Everything in the GTA 'verse is this. Perhaps most clever was "Eris" shoes for "Nike" in San Andreas, both being Greek goddesses.
 * "Cluckin' Bell", a pastiche of Taco Bell and KFC.
 * Tarbrush Coffee, parody of Starbucks.
 * Geta Life, eCola, Sprunk, Burger Shot, Well Stacked Pizza...
 * Headhunter sported several boxes bearing the amusing logo "Nosy," done in Sony's font.
 * In the much-loved 'A New Life' stage of Hitman: Blood Money, one of the best ways to get started is to slip a pair of drugged donuts to some FBI agents, so you can steal their uniforms. The fauxnuts are, of course, from 'Delicious Donuts', using the characteristic color scheme and font of Dunkin' Donuts.
 * Kingdom of Loathing has more of these than you can poke a stick, although it's more because the dev team love puns than for legal reasons. Cloaca Cola and Dyspepsi Cola, Tom's of the Spanish Main toothpaste, Hatorade sports drink, Red Minotaur energy drink, Domesticated Turkey bourbon, Eye-Pod mp3 players, Elmley sunglasses... the list of crimes against the english language is almost endless.
 * The Japanese version of Mario Kart 64 features sponsors such as Marioro (cleverest use of a cigarette brand ever), Luigip (after Italian motor oil company Agip - the logo is a nose-and-'stache instead of the six-legged lion) and Yoshi 1 (after German motor oils Mobil). The only one that carried over to the American version was Koopa Air (while the name does not denounce any brand, its boards had the same color scheme as those of Goodyear tires).
 * In Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake, Snake's favourite brand of cigarettes is Lucky Strikers, in a white box with a red spot.
 * In the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid, Snake mentions that his favorite brand is now "Moslems". This brand actually appeared before in Policenauts, where they were sold packaged in a Marlboro-style red box.
 * Most of the guns in the recent games are real, save the obvious fantasy weapons, but in the original Metal Gear, Snake's submachine gun was a Mac II Ingram. Squint at it. Yes. Not a Mac 11 Ingram, that would be a real gun.
 * Mushroom Men runneth over with various, amusingly-labeled products. If it exists in the game, chances are good it either has a humorous made-up name (like matchbooks from "Ned's Banjos & Feline Taxidermy") or a Bland Name. Some of them are quite subtle, too--very few people outside of artists would recognize what "Prissy Color" pencils are related to (Prismacolor art products, for the curious), for example.
 * The vending machines in Persona 3 all have Captain Ersatz brands of beverages, such as Cielo Mist, SoBay, Mad Bull, One-Up, and this editor's favorite, Fountain Dew.
 * Lampshaded or at least poked fun at by the punny item descriptions. SoBay, for example, is described as a drink that has uncanny popularity in Internet auctions.
 * And who could forget BauerBar, said to have enough energy packed to "keep you going for Twenty Four hours straight".
 * Not to mention Cylon Tea, which comes in twelve flavors.
 * This trope goes all the way back to GameTek's MS-DOS and Commodore 64 adaptations of The Price Is Right, released in 1990.
 * Resident Evil 2 had plenty of these, such as a fast food wrapper from "Burger Kong," a "Taxago" gas station, and vending machines selling "Cho Cho Cola" in a red can, and "Cool Soda" in a blue can with a white recurved stripe; because the stripe is also a trademark of Coca-Cola, the former was replaced in later releases by a plain black can, the latter by a coffee machine. And there's a cigarette billboard that resembles the Marlboro brand, only green (looks like Capcom didn't know Marlboro sells a menthol...).
 * Exevia batteries, parody of Exide.
 * Resident Evil 3 had a DeLorean replica (sans emblems) at the Stagla gas station. And ads for "Safsprin", "Aquacure", and "Adravil".
 * San Francisco Rush series: Most of the cars are knockoffs of real ones, although a few are completely made up. Compact=Acura Integra R, Muscle Car=Corvette Sting Ray, Bruiser=Plymouth Hemi Cuda, Exotic & Super GT=Vector M12, Mobster=Chevy Fleetline, Sportster=Dodge Viper (RT-10 roof, but with GTS competition stripes), 4x4=Ford Explorer, Protoype=Ford GT 90 concept car, Euro LX=BMW Z9, Venom=Lamborghini Diablo, Concept=BMW Nazca C2?, Panther=Mc Laren F1. The gas stations are also generic imitations of Shell, with the word "Fuel" and a smiley face in place of the shell logo.
 * Silent Hill is loaded with these all over the titular town, including a Queen Burger (later Happy Burger) restaurant (complete with the "bun halves" framing the logo), Vestal Gigastore (Virgin Megastore), cardboard boxes stamped with "Fedy-X," and an out-of-place bag of jellybeans bearing a logo almost identical to Jelly Belly's. Then there's Poston Market, Texxon gas, the (S)Hell station with the nautilus shell, the Circle 8 convenience store with the logo that looks a suspicious lot like that of 7-Eleven, and the AEC restaurant with the A&W motif.
 * Oh, and buried somewhere in there is a legitimate Jack Daniels logo painted on a cargo door.
 * Super James Pond (also known as [Super] James Pond II) has "Bony" stereo systems.
 * Postal 2 features a game called SymHomeless, and lampshaded by a local newspaper telling that "lawsuit narrowly averted by changing i to y".
 * Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero lacks licensed cars, instead using replicas of them, each named "TYPE-_____." If you get up close to a car and look at its emblem, you'll notice that it looks almost like a real brand name, but altered slightly; for example, Isuzu-like trucks have the emblem spelling out "USUZU."
 * The remake of the first Trauma Center has Pochy. No points for getting the reference right.
 * A Vampyre Story has an energy drink called "Scarlet Bovine". This is a double bland-name, referring both to Red Bull energy drink and Crimson Cow, the game's publisher.
 * World Driver Championship: Ellipse Stallion=Ford Mustang Cobra R, Rage 512 EVO=Porsche 911 GT 1 EVO, Reeds R12 Manta=Chevy Corvette C5R, Elan Swift TT=Lotus Esprit GT1, Ram Venom GTR = Dodge Viper GTSR, EXR Mystic=TVR Speed 12.
 * Even some of the old Sega console games have these. I forgot what game it was but I believe i have seen "Marobare" (Marlboro) and "Bridalstone" (Bridgestone) ads on the roadside which looks like the real thing if you are not paying close attention.
 * The Adventures of Willy Beamish: The Beamishes own a high-end television made by -- according to the narrator -- Fony.
 * Not to mention Willy's game systems of choice: his Nintari home console and portable Game Buddy.
 * Maria collects My Precious Pony dolls in the Backyard Sports games.
 * Ridge Racer series: Devil=Lamborghini Diablo, Age Erisso=Fiat 500, Age Abeille=Renault 5 Turbo, Age Pegase=Lotus 7, Lizard Bayonet=Corvette, Assoluto Istante=Vector W8, Assoluto Gephardo=Porsche 952 LM, etc. The cars in R4 and later were mostly completely made up, although some had bits and pieces from real cars. The car on ther RR7 cover resembles a Saleen S7.
 * The Gamespot reviewer for Ridge Racer 6 once confused the "Klonoa" signs found in the game with the real-life "Nokia."
 * The arcade version of Ninja Gaiden has signs for "Caca" Cola and "Fefs"(Pepsi), and "Esso Gus" barrels.
 * In Modern Warfare 2 one of the levels takes place in and around Burger Town joint based on Burger King. There's also a Taco Togo with a rather familiar looking logo.
 * Sam and Max Hit The Road features the roadside convenience store chain Snuckey's, based on the real world Stuckey's chain (oddly enough, Steve Purcell got away with a reference to the real-world Stuckey's in Sam and Max: On the Road).
 * The 11th Hour has a "Victim" mouse trap in the laboratory.
 * In Famous brings us Cafe Con Quistador, whose signs bear an amazing resemblance to Starbucks', only in blue, not green.
 * The Exidy arcade game Star Fire is obviously a pastiche of Star Wars. It came out a couple years before the official Star Wars arcade game.
 * The Test Drive reboot has a Safeway lookalike store (Fastlane? Fastway?) in San Francisco, in the same location as the Safeway featured in Bullitt.
 * The City of Heroes MMORPG has ads for an energy drink called Red Beast.
 * The software store in Space Quest IV has games titled "Boom", "Sim Sim", "It Came For The Desert", etc.
 * Peter MacDonald in Metal Wolf Chaos ("Because, yes! The pen is still mightier than the sword!") is a reporter for the "DNN" news channel.
 * RE Alistair has its MMORPG "Rivenwell Online". Stores in the mall include "Boundary's Books", "The Divide", and "Gamego". Boundary's sells a book called "Planetost" (the others are generic, like notebooks and encyclopedias), and Gamego sells "Movie Maniac", "Diamond Moon: Final Phase", "Other Saga", "Monochrome Diet", "Demon of Edo", "Walk This Way", and "Rock Festival".
 * The Japanese version of Mario Kart 64 has several of these on a few courses, such as Marioro (Marlboro), Yoshi 1 (Mobil 1), and 64 (76). These all looked like the logos of what they were parodying.
 * Nanashi no Game's plot centers around a dual-screened handheld game system called the TS.
 * In the Gran Turismo series, due to lack of an FIA license, the Monaco GP course is renamed Cote d'Azur, and the F1 cars are generic replicas.
 * Subverted in Gran Turismo 5, which has two actual licensed Ferrari F1 cars in it (the F2007 which also appeared in GT5: Prologue, and the F2010). Also notable is the use of a number of RUF-branded cars in GT5 as stand-ins for Porsches (which Sony does not have a license for) although since RUF builds their actual cars on top of unmarked Porsche bodies this doesn't necessarily apply. Instead, the cars are described as being based on "vehicles from a German automaker."
 * Need for Speed Shift 2 Unleashed also runs into a similar problem with Monaco. Because Codemasters (Formula 1 2010) holds the F1 license and all the related tracks, Slightly Mad Studios was forced to call the track "Riviera". They even tell players to guess which circuit the track is based off of on the website.
 * Game Dev Story contains too many Bland Names to count.
 * In the Call Back scene from Telltale's Back to The Future, the label on the mall is JPPinney.
 * Some of the civilians in Prototype wear New York Bets sportswear. At least one player for the Bets appears to be #5 Trillo.
 * Sword of the Stars has, among others, Kaprica and Heegaraa.
 * The original Transport Tycoon used real names for trains/trucks/planes. In Transport Tycoon Deluxe, however, they changed these names to something that sounds similar (for example, "EuroStar -> AsiaStar).
 * Averted with Duke Nukem. Soon after the launch of the first game, the name was changed to "Duke Nukum" because of the character Duke Nukem from Captain Planet and The Planeteers; however, since the name was not trademarked, they switched back to "Duke Nukem".
 * Solatorobo has "Stardogs Coffee" shops.
 * Ace Combat Joint Assault at one point has BNN.
 * The car manufacturers in Split Second are pastiches of real companies. Ryback cars look like modern versions of classic American muscle cars suchas the Camaro, Mustang, and Dodge Challenger. Cobretti look like Italian speedsters and the name sounds like Ferrari or Lamborghini. Hanzo has cars that resemble the Impreza and Lancer, and the name sounds like Mazda or Honda.
 * Hatoful Boyfriend has Calorie M**te and Keymania IIDX.
 * The girls of Neptunia do their shopping on Amazoo.nep, and Compa mentions that she found the location of the tutorial dungeon through DungleMaps.
 * The sequel gives us the Chirper social networking site.
 * Poke 646: The vending machines of the titular company are full of different sodas. Would you drink a bottle of Poke?
 * Like the GTA example above, Scarface The World Is Yours does this with its cars.
 * The import/export warehouse level in Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield has boxes labeled "Panafonic".
 * Subverted in Kid Icarus Uprising. One character starts talking about "Super Bash Sisters", only to be corrected by another character that it's actually Super Smash Brothers.

Web Comics

 * The Optimist features the brand Stabbucks Coffee in this strip.
 * User Friendly had "Snurf" guns in several early strips, as well as Bigbucks Coffee.
 * Yu Me Dream has "IHOW", the "International House Of Waffles", as well as "Wahoo.com".
 * Dork Tower features this frequently, especially for RPGs and board games. Examples include "Warhamster", "Travailler", "Dungeons & Dragoons", and "Vampire: The Groveling".
 * Megatokyo has the company names "Lockart" and "Cubesoft".
 * Pops up in the background of Punch an Pie, most memorably the shopping bags from "Warm Mention."
 * Order of the Stick does this with the trademarked wizard names from Dungeons and Dragons, attributing the "Bigby's" spells to either "Bixby" or "Bugsy" instead. (A character who was a clear copy of a D&D property (with a name of the original character's scrambled up) was dragged away by lawyers in mid-fight.
 * Then there is SerfWay (instead of SubWay).
 * So far, The FAN has brought us the electronics brand 'Sunny' and the 'Yeskia' mobile phones (complete with a provider called 'Lemon' that even becomes plot relevant at one point). An early episode mentions an online messenger called 'Yippy Courier'.
 * Sequential Art has MMORPG "Realm of Lorcraft" and 3D building game Cubeminer.
 * Averted in Yehuda Moon and The Kick Stand Cyclery. The characters have no problem mentioning real brands and at one point a real life item become a major plot point.
 * Selkie has Selkie wondering if she can watch movies on Flixnet (an obvious take on Netflix) at home.
 * The Whiteboard: If you look closely at the background, You can see Doc carrying a Khil chainsaw, while more recently Jinx can be seen with his brand new Khil Jr. chainsaw. Clearly a pastiche of Stihl and Skill power tools.
 * El Goonish Shive featured a chase through a "Swedekea" store. "Salty Crackers Comics" counts too; there's a regional comics chain around Chicago called "Graham Crackers".
 * In Everyday Heroes, Mr. Mighty once held a civilian job "hauling concrete blocks at Super Home Center Mart". Several strips also show "Sundo's" coffee (sun = star, dough = money = bucks).
 * In this Fuzzy Five strip, Otto is using a search engine called Searchy with a suspiciously familiar design.
 * There are no fewer than seven examples in this Kevin and Kell strip.
 * The Titular character of Mox'sBlog uses "CRADOS" instead of the real-life translation environment tool "TRADOS".

Web Original

 * Foamy the Squirrel of Illwillpress commonly uses brand substitutes: Snell Computer company, the Fatkins Diet or StarSchmucks Coffee.
 * Tales of the Starbuck Avenger averts this, obviously.
 * In the fourth episode of Blamimation, Kris and Scott travel to the digital world of Tron Fron, where they ride lightcycles glowbikes for a while until Scott merges with the Master Control Frogram.
 * In We Are All Pokémon Trainers there are several particularly "recognizable" brands and names such as Chatter (Twitter), Oddish Vs Dusknoirs, Fallout: New Nimbasa or 23Js.

Western Animation
""NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! it was finger ling-ling good!"
 * In The Simpsons, Homer Simpson knows that he can trust the "Sorny," "Panaphonics," and "Magnetbox" brand TVs that you find in an outlet store. Then again, he's an idiot and Bart was complaining how they were brand-name ripoffs.
 * The Simpsons universe also has a sci-fi film series called "Cosmic Wars"... which is odd, because the show has made many references to Star Wars.
 * They also have Kentucky Fried Panda, named like a mash-up of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Panda Express.

""Goodbye Spirogram. Goodbye Sketch-N-Etch. Goodbye Ravenous Ravenous Rhinos, Duopoly, Parchoosey, Humor Putty, and Sock-em Knock-em Cyborgs...""
 * This show also has several analogous video games like "Dash Dingo" and "Grand Theft Walrus."
 * More recently, there was Mapple Computers, whose CEO was named Steve Mobs, which manufactured the MyPod portable music player which could download songs and TV episodes from MyTunes. Oh, and its logo is an apple with two bites taken out of it.
 * For some reason, though, they feel comfortable flat-out namechecking Microsoft in the same episode.
 * Then one of the kids in the series owns a Apple Newton. Except that it's name wasn't mentioned and the logo was that of an Apple with a worm in it.
 * Bart, saying goodbye to the the contents of his toy box:

"Snickels (Snickers)
 * And, of course, the Malibu Stacy dolls.
 * And in Treehouse of Horror XXI: The names of the board games that Bart and Milhouse look over are: Taffyland, Drops and Risers, Consternation, Ravernous Ravernous Rhinos, Mouse Catch, Battleboat, Funopoly, Crate Of Apes, Yahtzu, & Tiddlywonks. Plus a scene from a Clue-like game: "Colonel Ketchup, I say it was you that killed him in the parlor with the letter opener."
 * Homer orders these toppings for his ice cream cone:

Gooey Bears (Gummy Bears)

Charlottesville Chew (Charleston Chew)

Nice & Many (Good & Plenty)

Kat Kit (Kit Kat)

Hershel's Smooches (Hershey's Kisses)

Mrs. Badbar (Mr. Goodbar)

Milk Dudes (Milk Duds)"

"Bart: Ow! Why did I get this LEGO shirt?
 * "Million Dollar Maybe" features the Funtendo Zii.
 * Many of their stores are parodies of real-world stores, with a few name knock-offs: Sprawl-Mart, CostMo. Oddly their store Try-N-Save has a similar sign design as a Chicago business Buy-N-Save which may have been established a couple years later.
 * "Hungry Hungry Homer"

Marge: Don't you mean Blocko shirt?

Bart: Right, right. Blocko shirt."

"Patient: How's my tumor, doctor?
 * A number of scenes in King of the Hill take place in Luly's Cafeteria. The restaurant and its logo are a blatant pastiche of Luby's, but odds are that viewers who haven't been to Texas have probably never heard of it.
 * They also have the Mega-Lo-Mart, which has driven out independent businesses, including Hank's favorite fishing supply store (but their batteries are sure a good deal).
 * The opening titles of The Critic once spoofed 2001: A Space Odyssey, with the film's famous monolith turning out to be a vending machine from which early man buys a can of "Pensa Cola."
 * Megas XLR has "PopTV", with the letters arranged in a way that looks a bit too much like the MTV logo.
 * Rugrats with Pego.it's a one off (as far as i know) but i thought i should point it out.
 * Futurama has "futuristic" versions of real trademarks, such as "MmmTV" and "8-Twelve".
 * The Femputer uses loudspeakers from Sonya.
 * Don't forget Admiral Crunch and Archduke Chocula.
 * The Box Network which cancelled the Planetary express (and the neon "B" on their building logo once glitched to look like an "F"), as well as the Carton Network.
 * And also 7^11.
 * "Open 28 Hours"
 * πKEA! Enjoy your affordable Swedish crap!
 * Taco Bellvue Hospital: Normal, healthy baby? Supersize it for 79 cents!

Chihuahua in Doctor Clothes: ...Grande."

"Stewie: Brian, you took me out on my first Halloween tonight, and you showed me an exciting time. And for that, I'm going to let you pick out some candy from my bag.
 * KidNappster
 * Iffy Pop popcorn
 * Mom's eyePhone
 * In The Ren and Stimpy Show episode "Sven Hoek," Stimpy's board game collection includes "Scribble," "Monotony," "Purecheesey," and "Misery Date."
 * Also, in "Hermit Ren" some "Urethra Franklin" albums are mentioned.
 * Kim Possible had many.
 * Cuddle Buddies=Beanie Babies
 * Club Banana=Banana Republic
 * Smarty Mart=Wal-Mart
 * South Park goes as close as it can get to real brands, with names like "HBC" (NBC), "Harbucks Coffee", "Wall-Mart" and "J-Mart", as well as the "Okama Gamesphere", a pastiche of the Nintendo Gamecube. Due to the occasional Product Placement deal, however, some episodes have featured stuff like the PSP or the Nintendo Wii -- plus, you know, World of Warcraft.
 * The "Fantastic Easter Special" episode features a CONY television set.
 * And of course, Cheesy Poofs, originally intended to be Cheetos Puffs.
 * One episode of Jonny Quest the Real Adventures had Race breaking into a building using a Nisa (Visa) credit card.
 * And then there's CNNN. "As close as it can get" is right...
 * In Metalocalypse, Nathan Explosion has a dream about working at Dimmu Burger, both a parody of Burger King and a shout-out to real life metal band Dimmu Borgir.
 * Daria had a very funny example: Fuzzy Wuzzy Wee Bits (Beanie Babies)
 * In one of the movies, there's "Lackluster Video".
 * Don't forget "Deuce Hardware".
 * The Weekenders has an amusing incident of this. The main characters wanted to go see a sci-fi movie about cosmic battles a long time ago, but were disappointed when they realized they read the movie's title wrong and instead saw a two-hour long documentary about escalators: Stair Wars.
 * A Stardoes Appears in Arthur's Perfect Christmas.
 * Pinky and The Brain are occasionally seen watching television; one of the brands used is Zony.
 * Shark Tale has "Coral Cola" and "Gup" (Gap).
 * Jimmy Two Shoes gives us Spew Tube.
 * Shrek had a number when the main characters went to the Kingdom of Far, Far, Away, such as: Farbucks, Burger Prince, Tower of London Records, Old Knavery, Baskin Robbinhood (with the 31 in Roman Numberals), Banana Kingdom, Friar's Fat Boy (Bob's Big Boy) and Abercrombie & Witch.
 * In the Doug episode "Doug's Lost Weekend", Doug acquires a "Super Pretendo" video game console.
 * The Boondocks episode "A Date With The Health Inspector" features the search for the "Xbox Killer." Though dialogue referred to the Xbox by name, the console itself was drawn with a Y-shaped motif on top in place of the X-shaped motif found on real Xboxes.
 * On The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Mandy is seen playing President Evil on Billy's Lamecube.
 * Dee Dee from Dexters Laboratory owns dolls of Darbie and Ben.
 * Phineas and Ferb: Over the credits of "Phineas' Birthday Clip-a-Thon", we hear Candace saying "Mom!" repeatedly, to the tune of the them song. At the end, she says, "Mom! Phineas and Ferb digitally tuned my voice!" (rather than Auto Tuned)
 * Family Guy's recent Halloween episode gives us this exchange near the end:

Brian: Oh, thanks.

Stewie: And keep in mind we can't use any brand names, due to advertising concerns.

Brian: Right, okay, I'll have a Mr. Wiffle bar, a Kooky Nut Pop, some Gyminyms, uh a Zip-Zap, a Choco-Buddy, uh, a $64000 Bar, a Not-A-Finger, and a Dawkin's Peanut Butter Disk.

Stewie: God, I hate television..."

"Peter: Boy, I feel like I haven't eaten in a week. Hey, if we pass a McDaniel's or a Burger Queen, let's hop out.
 * Similar dialogue appeared in "Cool Hand Peter":

Quagmire: Oh, that's right. We're on television.

Joe: Oh, I'd love a flame-broiled Bopper!

Quagmire: So frustrating. We all know what we're talking about!

Later:

Joe: I put in a call from the McDaniel's payphone while you guys were getting that nine-piece Chicken McFingers and those Diet Conts and those Fresh Fries.

Quagmire: Oh, come on! They don't own French Fries!"


 * In the 2010 version of Pound Puppies, Mrs. McLeish entered her puppy into the Northminster Dog Show after being challenged by her rival.
 * American Dad has the department store C. J. Neppey (J. C. Penney).
 * One episode of Regular Show had Bensen visit a bookstore called Corners, a parody of the now-defunct Borders.
 * In Mucha Lucha, The Flea's parents run a donut shop called Slammin' Donuts.
 * The House of Mouse short "computer.don" featured a Doors 2001 computer.

Real Life

 * Because the name Super Bowl is trademarked by the NFL, advertisers, businesses and newspapers are strictly forbidden to use the name in any promotions or advertisements. However, it is NOT illegal to use such terms as "Super Sunday," "Big Game Sunday," "Big Football Game" ... and so forth ... in campaigns centered on the Super Bowl.
 * In a truly moustache-twirling display of villainous greed, the NFL actually attempted to trademark "The Big Game," giving Disney a bit of competition for the honor of having the unluckiest PR department in the business world. Luckily for every ad, movie, TV show and piece of literature to use that term, the NFL's request was turned down.
 * Manufacturers of some counterfeit products make small changes to names, logos, and other trademarks. Some examples can be found on Engadget's Keepin' it real fake series. An example seen by this editor would be a "Game Bay" cartridge made by "Nintende(TN)".
 * Many companies that manufacture unlicensed accessories for the Nintendo Wii mark them as being for the "Wü".
 * From The Fifties through The Seventies, it was common for cars to have names spelled out in separate chromed diecast letters along the hood, trunklid or fenders, bolted or riveted in place. Urban legend had it that these would sometimes be misspelled by the factory workers. Documented evidence does exist of one division's nameplate being placed on one part of the car and a different one on another (eg. "Buick" on the grille and "Oldsmobile" on the trunk lid). - Most common of all was their letter falling off, leaving the driver with a Fo_d, C_evrolet or even a Do_g_.
 * It's also quite common for people to alter the badging themselves even in modern times. Toyota trucks especially get this treatment - with the large TOYOTA lettering on the tailgate being altered to either show TOY or even YO
 * Those people have weird ideas about what it means to be a man.
 * There's a whole market for imaginary products in the form of 3D assets that people purchase, especially for use with the Poser home animation program. While there's no real problem with using something trademarked, many trademarked logos are also copyrighted. Of course, at the same time, people tend to want things based on stuff they're familiar with, either from popular fiction or from the real world, and so this leads to "almost-but-not-quite" products, often with 'Pose' or 'Poser' in the name, such as Diet Poser Cola, the Banana dPod, and Burger Jack's Meals. Other times, they just don't bother.
 * KFG.
 * So that would be Kentucky Fried.....Goat? Groundhog? Gerbil? Gorilla? Gecko? Gazelle? Goldfish? Grizzly? Guppy? Galapagos Tortoise?
 * The letter 'G' sounds exactly the same as the Chinese word for chicken. So Yeah.
 * Or, KLG.
 * There was once a whole site dedicated to bad rip-offs of KFC. The attempts are so bad that the author's reactions range from mildly sarcastic to outright spittle-flecked ranting.
 * And Pizza Huh. Huh?
 * In Blackpool, UK, there is (or was) a "Pizza Hat".
 * Bucksstar Coffee.
 * There's one in New Jersey that has its acronym be KFC and has a predominantly red color scheme...but it's Kennedy Fried Chicken.
 * And Kantouri Fried Chicken in the Washington, DC area.
 * The Transformers franchise has had to deal with some of this over the years. The original toy line featured some vehicle modes that strongly resembled real life models. When they do an Anniversary toy line with an updated version, they sometimes just cannot take what the car was originally because of licensing problems. For example: Bumblebee was a VW beetle and Jazz was a Porsche. Both companies did not want to be associated with a violent kids show. So instead Hasbro would create a car design that was far enough removed from the name brand but close enough that there is no problem recognising the character. The 2007 movie did not have that luxury, and just changed the alternate modes. Although the Alternators and Binaltech lines were unique for having absolutely everything be a licensed toy, though it was mostly Ford, Chevy and Dodge.
 * The original Mirage and Wheeljack toys play with this trope. Takara originally had licenses from car manufacturers for their Diaclone line, which were imported unchanged by Hasbro. As racing cars, Mirage and Wheeljack's vehicle forms were licensed from Ligier and Lancia, respectively, though their primary sponsors (Gitanes and Alitalia, respectively), not so much. The toys were rebranded "Citanes" and "Alitalla". A Diaclone-exclusive Stratos in Marlboro livery was similarly changed by Takara, resulting in a toy fans refer to as "Marlboor" Wheeljack. "Marlboor" made a cameo in an issue of The War Within (though without the sponsor names, of course, since this was set millions of years ago on Cybertron).
 * "Morphobots" were bootlegs of the Transformers Cybertron Legends (mostly beasts) toys sold in dollar stores.
 * There are a lot of these in open-air markets and bazaars in the Philippines, which tend to feature a lot of knockoffs from China, Taiwan, and other neighboring nations. A Power Pop Girls towel, a Jurassic Wars set (a WWII soldier inexplicably packaged with a pink plastic velociraptor), and Guchi handbags among several others.
 * KenSingTon, makers of the "Vii", a knockoff of the Wii. The Vii got the nickname "Chintendo Vii" after widespread exposure on the Internet.
 * There was also a pirate game company named Chintendo.
 * One pirate NES game producer was named "Cony".
 * Speaking of, compare the Sony logo with the Coby logo. Coincidence? We think not!
 * Also: headphones Sonya.
 * Many generic, store brand cereals in grocery stores do this. A brand like Lucky Charms will often have a box of cereal next to it with the same colors, except barring a very generic name such as "Sugar Coated Marshmallow Puffs."
 * The film studio The Asylum specializes in making low-budget movies that vaguely resemble recent blockbusters (dubbed Mockbusters by film critics). Some examples include Pirates of Treasure Island, Snakes on a Train, The Da Vinci Treasure, and Transmorphers.
 * Can't help but point out the absurd similarity between the name Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist. For those of you who still don't get it: The Sierra Mountain chain is a series of mountains and dew and mist are both types of surface condensation. Quite understandable, however, as both are made by Pepsi.
 * There's a legitimate electronics company whose name sounds like an example: Magnasonic.
 * Makes total sense if you know Latin; Magna = large or great, sonic = sound. Pan(in the case of panasonic) = all, and vox(as in magnavox)... I think means voice? Correct me if I'm wrong there.
 * There's one that's a blatant rip-off of NEC: A legitimate electronics company called MEC (Malaysian Electronics Corp). And weirder brands like Panashiba and Tobishi.
 * Enercell batteries always seemed to me like a cross between Energizer and Duracell.
 * Palsonic is another one.
 * And then there's Pensonic.
 * This commercial from March 25, 1980 (begins at 0:32). Yes, the product is called Arthritis Pain Formula.
 * And like Anacin aspirin, it's still around today.
 * Many games on pirate NES multicarts have their titles changed or removed.
 * Occasionally when franchise stores close down and are bought up by smaller businesses, the new store ends up with a suspiciously similar name, especially if they're selling a similar product. This seems to be as much about saving money by only making minor alterations to a sign as it is momentarily confusing people into stopping in. Not Fooling Anybody offers up such examples as a Mister Donut becoming Master Donut, A Texaco becoming Exaco (yes, they actually just ripped the T off of the signs), and most nonsensically, a Baskin Robbins becoming Basket Rabbit.
 * Zen Rfanklib.
 * Exidy (early arcade game developer) => Exide (battery brand)
 * Stuart Ashen comes across these all the time. The most notorious examples are the POP Station, which later got a spiritual successor in the PCP Station, the Neo Double Games (DS) and the "Chintendo" Vii, a bland redesign of the Wii.
 * There's also the infamous Penesamig batteries that have been mentioned a few times since their initial on-screen appearance.
 * Ligao is a cheap Chinese ripoff of LEGO.
 * Dr Pepper flavored generic soft drinks always have to contain "Dr." or "Mr." in the name. Here's a list of most of them.
 * The Maths Quest Prelim Course textbook (an Australian maths textbook) has references GOI insurance and J.L. Booker and Roy Black real estate, just to name a few.
 * The HiPhone. Take a wild guess what it's a rip-off of, and which country made the rip-off.
 * Pocky has many imitations. Here's one.
 * Not sure where this was seen, but in one British supermarket you could purchase a 'circular plastic flying disc'
 * Wacky Packages
 * The Earl Hays Press, a company that sells props for Live Action TV series (it seems mostly stuff that can be produced by printing), does this trope for some of its products, e.g. the magazines Playpen and Earth Geographic, or several of the food packages.
 * The discount grocery store chain Aldi has a lot of this in their stores. An example is "Cinnamon Crunch Squares" (Cinnamon Toast Crunch).
 * In the Philippines again, there is the Mc Donald's combined with the local competitor to produce McDolibee. And it was a barbecue stand!