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Disobey This Message: Difference between revisions
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A [[Broken Aesop]] used by many different shows, especially ones aimed at children: The point of the story is telling the reader not to do things just because somebody tells them to do them. The paradox is obvious.
This is usually part of a story about peer pressure, informing children that it's wrong to do something just because someone tells them to. "Be a nonconformist" is usually used in situations like "[[Drugs Are Bad|don't do drugs]]" or "don't wear grossly sexed-up in-style clothes" or "don't key the unpopular teacher's car because the [[Alpha Bitch]] wants you to." They aren't about nonconformity or being yourself; they're about doing the right thing. Or, to take a morally neutral view of this, obey your authority figures, not your peers, because authority figures cannot be questioned, and if your peers question them, your peers are bad people. So don't follow them! Rebel by obeying! At this point, the evil AI reading this will [[Self
Can also be a [[Family
It should be noted that it is ''perfectly'' possible for a work to have as [[An Aesop]] that "being a [[Rebellious Spirit]] is a good thing" and thus be a sincere advocate of anti-authoritarianism. This trope is ''not'' about sincere advocates of anti-authoritarianism, but rather instances where such a message is ''undermined'' by "be a rebel by doing what I want you to do."
See also: [[Be Yourself]], [[Jump Off a Bridge Rebuttal]], [[The Man Is Sticking It to The Man]].
{{examples
== Advertising ==
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* Yahoo's "Start Wearing Purple" campaign, with purple touted as representative of innovation and individuality, comes to mind.
** The Irony being that purple is the traditional color of royalty and divinity, meaning people who wear it ''demand'' that others follow their every action...
* Although possibly not as common as [[Can't Get Away With Nuthin'|anti-drug and anti-bullying]] campaigns, this is also a rather common subject of public service campaigns aimed at schoolchildren.
** That is until you combine the two. There is an Anti-Drug PSA running where there are various Good and Bad influences on a teen's shoulders, including family, friends, and his basketball team. Of course, the Good influences invariably make better arguments than the bad ones. The last to speak is his father, who asks, "Do you enjoy making your mother cry!?" This is immediately followed by the line: "The '''only''' voice that matters is yours." Following this, the teen turns down the blunt offered to him.
*** To be fair, this seems to be more the result of bad wording, as it does make sense in trying to say "Your parents and teachers can tell you all about the evils of drugs and alcohol all they want, but when you're offered these things, it's still ultimately up to ''you'' and not ''them'' to make the decision."
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