Fictional Counterpart: Difference between revisions

== Anime and Manga ==

* "Bif Standard" and his "Standard OS" in ''[[Pretty Sammy|Magical Girl Pretty Sammy]].''

** Or "''M''cdoness burger" in ''[[Darker than Black]]''. About as subtle.

** Or ''[[Parasyte]]'' where it is literally actually called McDonald's

** In ''[[The World God Only Knows]]'' it's "Starbox".

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' has HetaTube, a blatant stand-in for [[YouTube]].

* ''[[Japan Inc]]'' had several - the car firms Toyosan, Mitsutomo, Chrysky; the US TV station CBN...

 

* The far-right British National Party has had at least a dozen of these analogues over the years, most infamously the Norsefire Coalition from ''[[V for Vendetta]].''

** That predates the rise of the modern BNP, it's more likely based on the National Front.

* In ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'', there are occasional references to "Camp X-Factor," which seems to be a mutant version of Guantanamo Bay (which itself, of course, is also known as Camp X-Ray); this is also a [[Mythology Gag]].

* The ''[[League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' universe does this with damn near everything, not just places but people and events as well.

* ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'' uses both Taco Hell and Taco Smell. Oddly enough, the series also ''averts'' this with the same example: when Nny is {{spoiler|in heaven}} reference is made to a Taco Bell (along with a note not to sue [[Jhonen Vasquez|the author]] because he is funny).

 

* Mexican Cantinflas film ''Su Excelencia'', about the conflicts between Communism and Capitalism pretty much is one example after another:

** ''Republica De Los Cocos'': Coconut Republic, Latin America in general, a [[Banana Republic]]

* ''Santa Carla'' is the fictional name of the town in the 1987 vampire film ''The Lost Boys''. The film was actually filmed in Santa Cruz, CA.

* ''[[Idiocracy]]'' is an interesting example, because all the water, drinks and basically all liquids in America, except for toilet water, have been replaced by Brawndo, a Fictional Counterpart of Gatorade. What makes it interesting is that they specifically mention this by saying that it "tastes like Gatorade".

** This was basically a recasting of the "Powerthirst" commercials on [[YouTube]] (with that group's permission) which themselves were parodies of energy drinks (most closely resembling ''Monster'' in their packaging.)

* The 1994 remake of ''[[Miracle on 34th Street]]'' is set at fictional department store "Cole's", rather than real-life Macy's as in the original movie. Which just leads right back into real life as Coles is a mega chain of supermarkets around Australia.

* Based on the similarity of the logos, Lobster Shack in ''[[Easy A]]'' is clearly a parody of Red Lobster.

 

* ''[[Animorphs]]'' has Zone 91 standing in for [[Area 51]].

* In ''Pendennis'', William Makepeace Thackeray had the hero attend [[Oxbridge]] University, whose counterpart was called Camford. Also, in ''[[Vanity Fair]]'', several of the male characters attended the public school called Slaughter House- this is a reference to Charterhouse which Thackeray himself attended- it alludes both to the real school being situated near a slaughter house and to the sadistic corporal punishment there.

* [[Sarah Dessen]]'s books feature Ume.com, which is Facebook in all but name. It even has a Mark Zuckerberg-like creator.

 

* [[Donald P. Bellisario]] series ''[[NCIS]]'' and ''[[JAG]]'' often show the characters watching the news network ZNN—a play on CNN, of course. (Complete with very similar logo.) Sometimes watching it is directly in the plot, other times it's just on in the background...

** ''[[NCIS]]'' features coffee from DC Blend (with a suspiciously Starbucks-like logo and cup) and Caf-Pow (never Big Gulp).

* ''[[Reaper]]'': "Work Bench" is Home Depot, or maybe Lowes.

* ''[[Chuck]]'' : "Buy More" is Best Buy (though they actually originally filmed at a [[Comp USA]]), and "Orange Orange" is Orange Julius.

* Cancer Man/CSM from ''[[The X-Files]]'' smoked Morley cigarettes, a stand-in for Marlboro.

** Morley cigarettes first appeared in an episode of [[The Twilight Zone]] in 1963, [[William Shatner]]'s character in 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet', has a pack.

* ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' has quite a few of these, as do many other [[Disney]] shows.

 

* In contrast to the ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' example above, the [[Tabletop Games|RPG]] ''Fireborn'' averts this by featuring the BNP by name, but with the reincarnated dragons kung-fuing their way through London you'd be forgiven for not noticing.

* [[Aberrant]] has the N! network, which is for [[Differently-Powered Individual|Novas]] what E! is for celebrities in entertainment.

* The people in the [[Champions|Champions Universe]] drink a lot of Nar-Cola, which (if you look at its logo) is a clear substitute for Pepsi.

 

* "Hannah Miller's" restaurant in ''[[Variable Geo]]'' is a fictionalized version of Hawaiian chain "Anna Miller's," Amish (yes, Amish) casual restaurants [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|popular in Japan and Hawaii]].

* The ''Fire Pro Wrestling'' video game series is populated with Fictional Counterparts of real [[Professional Wrestling]] federations from around the world, the rosters of which are composed of [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]] versions of real wrestlers.

* [[Left 4 Dead]] gives us Burger Tank, which looks to operate a lot like most burger places as well as a ''[[Brand X|generic cola]]'' with very familiar colors. Also, the pain [[Memetic Mutation|PEELZ]] bottle is very clearly based on that of Target brand ibuprofen tablets.

* The "Hotel Oasis" in ''[[Modern Warfare 3]]'' is a very obvious copy of the real-life Burj Al Arab in [[Dubai]]. Of course, this is more than justified, as said hotel {{spoiler|apparently just lets the [[Big Bad]], the game's in-universe Russian equivalent of Bin Laden, check in with 50 or so of his terrorist buddies}} and the developers probably didn't want to get sued by the real hotel.

 

== [[Web Animation]] ==

* The PriceCo Supermart in ''[[Banana-nana-Ninja!]]'' is an obvious spoof of Walmart etc. with departments like Black Market Organs, Mortuary, and Casino.

* In ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', distinctly Apple-inspired computers are branded as Tandy, which, ironically, was an actual real-world computer brand.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' raises this to the level of an [[Affectionate Parody]]:

{{quote|'''[http://egscomics.com/?date{{=}}2010-03-12 Mr. Dunkel]''': You will have to brave the labyrinth that is ''SWEDEKEA''.}}

* ''[[Think Before You Think]]'' shows ''Barn & Stable'' as a book store in the background of [http://thinkbeforeyouthink.net/?comic=20090627-indecision this comic].

 

* The equivalent of NASA in ''[[Invader Zim]]'' is NASAPLACE.

* Used repeatedly on ''[[South Park]],'' including an episode about Harbucks Coffee and another on Wall Mart.

 

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[[Category:Organization Index]]

[[Category:Universal Tropes]]