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{{trope}}
There are some well-known works that gathered controversy throughout the years, and there are also famously controversial works in which the controversy, whether rightful or not, would overshadow most other aspects. Which isn't to say that works in the latter category have no other redeeming factor, just that most people would know little else aside from the controversial aspects.
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** In 2021, Rockstar's parent company [[Take Two Interactive]] shut down unofficial porting projects for ''GTA 3'' and ''Vice City'', as well as total conversion mods for said games and ''San Andreas'' - some of which were over a decade old and were in no way intended to deprive Take-Two of revenue. Fans were none too pleased, to say the least, as modding has been an integral part of the ''GTA'' community. This, along with the original games being delisted on Steam, was likely done as a result of their plans to release ''Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition'', a [[Compilation Rerelease]] of the three 3D-era games ported using the Unreal Engine - this did not help matters in the slightest, as it was beset with numerous game-breaking bugs and frame rate issues, leading players to compare it unfavourably to ''[[Cyberpunk 2077]]'' (whose release was similarly marred with technical issues). The outrage was such that it forced Rockstar to make the original RenderWare-based editions available on Steam again to placate dissatisfied players.
* The social commentary of ''[[Mafia III]]'' sits right smack in the middle of the civil rights and racism issues the US is facing in recent years, especially with its portrayal of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], Confederate apologists and racist Southeners as [[Acceptable Targets]]. [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|Needless to say]], said right-wing/alt-right bigots took to Steam to review-bomb the game in what they saw as turning the ''Mafia'' series into an agenda-pushing propaganda piece by "social justice warriors". Not helping matters was series creator Daniel Vávra's connection with the Gamergate movement either - Vávra left 2K mid-way through its development out of dissatisfaction over the publisher's demands for the game.
** Heck, even Daniel Vávra himself wasn't spared from any controversy either. On top of his political views, which lean towards the right-wing/alt-right spectrum and has expressed contempt over what he views as "progressive bias" (read:feminists and other contentious sociopolitical debacles spilling over to popular media), he has been criticised even by fellow Czech gamers, particularly fans of the original ''[[Mafia]]'' game, for his egoistic and arrogant demeanour especially in light of criticism levelled towards the ''Definitive Edition'' remake of the first game. Adding fuel to the fire was when he ridiculed actor Jeremy Luke for looking too much like [[Shrek]] or the notorious webcomic character Pepe The Frog - [[Too Soon|while Luke was still recovering from the loss of his father during development]]. Vávra tried to play damage control in a comment on
* In a similar vein to ''Postal'', ''[[Hatred]]'' became so reviled by even video game journalists and some gamers that it was initially rejected from [[Steam]] due to its gratuitous and no-holds-barred brand of sociopathic violence, only for Gabe Newell to apologise and have it re-listed. [[Epic Games]] reportedly sought to disassociate themselves from the issue by requesting to have the Unreal Engine logo removed from marketing material. (While the ''[[Unreal (series)|Unreal]]'' series is known for its graphic violence, it is rooted more in science-fiction fantasies rather than real-world apathy towards people.)
* ''[[Night Trap]]'' was one of the video games that contributed to the creation of the ESRB ratings in the United States. An infamous bathroom scene<ref>
* Besides ''Night Trap'', ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' was the scapegoat of parents and politicians for its visceral violence and subject matter. ''Mortal Kombat''{{'}}s digitised sprites based on footage from live actors made for what was at the time photorealistic violence which ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' described as "delighted young players but disturbed parents." Both games ultimately served as the catalyst for what is now the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.
* ''[[Thrill Kill]]'' for the PlayStation was billed to be the "new ''[[Mortal Kombat]]''", with the technical feat of up to four players fighting in the same room as its selling point, but the gratuitous violence and hardcore sex content, which garnered a rare "Adults Only" (AO) rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, was too much for [[Electronic Arts]] to swallow, ordering Paradox Development to scrap the game; former Paradox employees who worked on the game eventually leaked beta and pre-final builds of the game to a scene group, and the game engine was later reused for ''[[Wu-Tang Clan|Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style]]'', ''X-Men: Mutant Academy'', ''X-Men: Mutant Academy 2'' and ''Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Arena''.
* Perhaps hypocritically enough, EA [[No Such Thing as Bad Publicity|purposely courted controversy]] for ''[[Dante's Inferno (video game)|Dante's Inferno]]'' by staging a fake protest where twenty protesters picketed at E3 2009 and condemned EA for what was viewed as a sacrilegious and insensitive game. EA later confirmed that it was just a publicity stunt to drive up hype, only for ''actual'' Christian bloggers to condemn the video game giant for pulling off such a tasteless stunt.
* ''[[Doom (series)|Doom]]'' not only courted controversy for its gore and occult imagery, it also came under fire (pun not intended) for being associated with a number of school shootings in the United States, most notably the [[Columbine]] massacre where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people and injured 24 others. It didn't help that Harris and Klebold were avid players of the game and made WADs themselves (though contrary to sensationalist reports, the "Harris levels" were not at all based on the Columbine High School's layout and did not contain sprites of the school's students and faculty), and that Harris said that the killing would be "like playing Doom", and "it'll be like the LA riots, the Oklahoma bombing, World War II, Vietnam, Duke Nukem and Doom all mixed together", and that his shotgun was "straight out of the game". Upset by the mainstream media's stereotyping of video game players as degenerate youth, the ''Doom'' community distanced themselves from the shooters by deleting and/or banning any (re-)uploads of the Harris WADs and defended themselves and the game from any sort of direct responsibility. Prominent Doomworld community members Javier "Dukrous" Heredia and Scott "Covaro" Cover both explained their side of the story to news media (in Covaro's case during a round-table talk with Bill and Hillary Clinton on ''Good Morning America''),
** Ironically enough
** The 3DO conversion became this over time: the conversion itself was ridiculed for running at a slideshow frame rate, though Rebecca Heineman, the programmer behind this port, was largely spared from the blame as she was basically tasked to [[Christmas Rushed|rush]] the port in time for Black Friday and the subsequent holiday season, and was given ''a retail copy of the game'' (instead of the id Tech source code she needed as a starting point) by Art Data, a fly-by-night company founded by Randy Scott, a wannabe video game mogul who did what amounted to defrauding both Heineman and the gaming press of the time by lying to them that the conversion was mostly finished and was to feature additional content such as new weapons and Full Motion Video sequences, supposedly to further showcase the 3DO's capabilities, and having a gross misconception on how video games are developed, seemingly under the impression that porting the game is just the matter of a cut-and-paste/recompile job. Randy Scott and his company flew off the radar since then, but he resurfaced in 2017 when he was accused of molesting young girls at his music school.
* ''[[Kingpin: Life of Crime]]'' also had the unfortunate timing of being released shortly after the Columbine tragedy. Xatrix Entertainment, later known as Grey Matter Interactive and merged with Treyarch, was faced with mounting pressure from legislators and [[Moral Guardians]] who were scrambling to seek the truth as to what motivated Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold into going on [[Going Postal|a blood-drenched rampage]]. American senators debated on the game's obscene content, and the National Institute on Media and the Family singled out ''Kingpin'' in its 1999 report on video game violence. Xatrix responded by implementing a [[Bowdlerise|safe mode]] option upon installation where players can opt for a censored experience devoid of blood and with bleeped-out profanities. Xatrix CEO Drew Markham assured in an install-time message that the game "was never intended for children" and was made "with mature themes made for a mature audience." Regardless, many retailers have chosen not to stock the game, making it a commercial failure and leading to Xatrix's demise; they would later reform as Grey Matter Interactive which only developed a few games before shutting down for good.
* The Atari 2600 game ''[[Dragster]]'' was a short but sweet game by [[Activision]], which simulated drag racing in as far as what the hardware of the time could muster. It became better remembered in recent years as the game which now-disgraced player Todd Rogers claimed to have a 5.51 second time; subsequent analysis of the game's assembly code and revelations about Rogers' other dubious high score records led Twin Galaxies to [[Persona Non Grata|permanently ban him]] from their leaderboards, as well as the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' to strip him of his titles.
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* ''The Guy Game'' would've been yet another run-of-the-mill trivia quiz-slash-puzzle game with a [[Fanservice]] theme taking the form of a live-action [[Full Motion Video]] game show, where players are treated to bare-breasted women should they complete any of the minigames. There was just one problem though: one of the women in the game going by the name Diane filed suit and alleged that she was unaware that her footage would be used in a video game, and she was [[Really Seventeen Years Old|seventeen]] when the footage was taken, giving it the dubious distinction of being ''the only piece of underage pornography to be licensed for home consoles.'' Unsurprisingly, the game was pulled from shelves as it technically counts as [[Paedo Hunt|child porn]] (given the latter, it is presumed that all unsold copies and masters were destroyed to avoid any legal repercussions over the possession of illegal pornography as well as personality rights issues), though Topheavy Studios eventually re-released ''The Guy Game'' as an interactive DVD under the subtitle ''Game Over'' with the offending footage removed and replaced with other models. The child porn controversy may have accounted for Jeff Spangenberg going off the radar since then.
* The vulgar humour and adult themes in [[Acclaim]]'s ''BMX XXX'' was universally viewed as one of the worst (if not ''the worst'') gimmicks to grace a sports game. It was said that Acclaim somehow had the brilliant idea of having [[Z-Axis]] [[Executive Meddling|turn]] what was going to be an extremely subpar game [[Sex Sells|into a raunchy sex comedy]], breasts, babes and all, in a vain and puerile effort to drum up publicity and make up for the lacklustre gameplay, likely under the impression that immature men would grab a copy and play it for the smut regardless of the game's actual quality. The late extreme sports athlete Dave Mirra, whose namesake video game series formed the basis for ''BMX XXX'', balked at the decision and sued Acclaim for the use of his name and likeness, forcing Acclaim to release the game without the Dave Mirra branding. Sony also forced Acclaim to censor the PS2 release as they "didn't feel that the topless nudity fundamentally added to the gameplay experience". The obscenity controversy and negative reception towards ''BMX XXX'' eventually contributed to Acclaim's downfall and bankruptcy.
* On top of recent entries in the ''[[NBA 2K]]'' series being peppered with increasingly pervasive monetization schemes like [[Loot Boxes]], ''NBA 2K20'' was condemned and ridiculed by gaming circles for its blatant and tasteless use of casino gambling mechanics in a game rated for players ''as young as three years old''. The
* ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront (series)|Star Wars Battlefront II]]'' garnered the attention of legislators over its use of loot box mechanics and prompted ''Star Wars'' series owner [[Disney]] to force EA into toning down the use of microtransactions by removing the lootbox mechanic in favour of paid cosmetic items.
* Speaking of controversies on journalistic integrity and ethics, ''[[Driver 3]]'' aka ''DRIV3R'' became embroiled in a review scandal called "[[Scandalgate|DRIV3Rgate]]" where two outlets operated by Future plc, ''PSM2'' and ''Xbox World'', gave the game 9/10 scores despite it especially the PC version having been saddled with numerous technical issues, leading to accusations of bribery and corruption through review-fixing on part of Atari and Future plc. Rubbing salt in the wound was that of a controversial thread on the GamesRadar forums, also owned by Future, being filled to the brim with posts critical of the dubious reviews. Posts defending ''DRIV3R'' and Future followed suit, but this was later outed as a desperate act of [[
* Despite receiving critical acclaim from mainstream gaming press, ''[[The Last of Us Part II]]'' was [[Critical Dissonance|savaged]] by a number of gaming circles for its inclusion of LGBTQ+ content and themes, branding it a "[[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|social justice warrior]]" or a "woke" game as some perceive it as [[Anvilicious|pervasive agenda-pushing]] not unlike films featuring female, LGBT and racially diverse cast members. Kotaku's Riley MacLeod saw the controversy as a weak point with Metacritic's aggregation system, where he stated that the site "fails to take into account the diverse critical opinions of the game", instead focusing on the overall scores and seemingly padding it out to make the game appear better than it is, than the actual content of the review and provide a more even assessment of the game's critical both in the eyes of the press and the gaming public. It also didn't help that, like what happened with the ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' remake, the game's cast members were unfairly harassed and trolled by self-styled "edgelords" who take offense at anything remotely "diverse" or "feminist". Considering the disconcertingly divisive sociopolitical atmosphere in the United States in this day and age, the homophobic and anti-feminist sentiment thrown at ''The Last of Us Part II'' is unsurprising.
** The other part of the controversy was due to leaks of the game revealing that one of the main characters of the first game got [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|a very ignominious death at the hands of the new playable character]], while the other remaining characters received extreme [[Character Derailment]] compared with their previous characterization (and the actual release of the game revealing that the game has a bleak [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]] story–with a lot of [[Shoot the Dog|figurative and literal dog shooting]]–with a [[Bittersweet Ending]] very high in the bitter that gave little emotional resolution). The leaks forced a definite release date of the game after some years in [[Development Hell]], and the ensuing takedowns of leaks and early critics only irritated gamers that were already angry with both Sony and Naughty Dog. The above was not helped by the heads of the project responding to their harassment by calling any critics that didn't like the game "regressive" and "misogynists", [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|whenever they actually were or not]] due to lumping the people criticizing the game for their narrative choices with the misogynistic trolls mentioned above.
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* While hailed as the first third-party video game developer since the late 70s, back when software for video game consoles such as the [[Atari 2600]] were developed in-house, [[Activision]] - more specifically its parent conglomerate, Activision [[Blizzard]] - suffered a major dent to its reputation when damning revelations about the company's treatment of female employees surfaced, particularly the suicide of a female employee, as well as CEO Bobby Kotick and his role in covering up years of alleged sexual assault. [[Not Helping Your Case|It didn't help that]] CEO Bobby Kotick was allegedly linked with convicted pedophile and former financier Jeffrey Epstein - the whole video game industry was so disgusted that the "big three" console manufacturers Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IImsDw5EX3o all lashed out at Kotick] for his actions in regards to the scandal.
** Ironically, PlayStation would be hit with [https://www.polygon.com/22798781/playstation-sony-gender-discrimination-lawsuit a gender discrimination lawsuit] not long after.
* The 2006 [[Eroge|eroge]] ''[[RapeLay]]'' was, unsurprisingly, hit with controversy both in and outside its native Japan for its premise of playing the role of a sex offender. Not helping matters was the objective of raping not just a mother, but her two ''children'': 12-year-old Manaka and 17-year-old Aoi. While not officially released outside of Japan, its notoriety spurred commentary from lawmakers and was banned in several countries (especially as its objective of stalking and raping minors could technically qualify the game as child pornography). In an intriguing twist, the outrage over the game prompted other eroge developers to ban foreigners from accessing their sites and works, a move seen by eroge fans as xenophobic.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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* ''[[Any Bonds Today?]]'' was a 1942 [[Propaganda Piece|propaganda film]] commissioned by the United States Department of the Treasury to Warner Bros.; it would later be known more for its [[Values Dissonance]] in the form of Bugs Bunny donning a blackface than the film encouraging Americans at the time to buy war bonds and contribute to the Allied military effort.
* Media coverage of the 2019 Spanish animated feature ''[[Elcano & Magallanes: First Trip Around the World]]'' was skewed more towards the outrage it generated when Filipinos took umbrage over its [[Cross-Cultural Kerfluffle|depiction]] of [[Lapu-Lapu]] and the Battle of Mactan in a decidedly villainous light. [[Misplaced Nationalism]] ensued when Filipinos, whose elementary school textbook knowledge of their country's history is [[The Theme Park Version|a little distorted]] to say the least, took to social media and bashed the living daylights out of the film, the catch being that most of the outrage came from those who [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch|hadn't even watched the whole film yet]], and were motivated more by [[Serious Business|blind patriotism]] and the [[GIFT|typical keyboard-warrior mentality]] than sincere and level-headed perception of history.
** Said Filipinos are under the impression that Lapu-Lapu fought for the Philippines as a whole as the first to resist colonial rule, something [[Rodrigo Duterte]] played up and over-hyped in a statement; historians and scholars disagree with this, as the Philippines as we know it is a relatively recent concept, and the archipelago was at the time made up of mostly unconnected tribal polities who waged wars against each other for whatever reason. Furthermore, Magellan and his posse weren't necessarily plotting to conquer any land - Magellan did have chieftain Rajah Humabon and his consort Humamay converted to Catholicism, but other than that, it was largely a trade expedition. It wasn't until 1565 when King Philip II spearheaded the conquest of the Philippines through a Spanish expedition of five hundred men led by Miguel López de Legazpi. To top it all off, a Rappler columnist
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' has an [[In-Universe]] example with Russ Meyers Sr., the creator of Itchy and Scratchy (well, sort of). While most regard him as a beloved cartoonist (often portrayed as this reality's equivalent of [[Walt Disney]]), he was also criticized for a controversial cartoon called "Nazi Supermen are Our Superiors". Oh, and as revealed in one episode, [[Plagiarism in Fiction|he was a plagiarist.]]
* John Lasseter was known for directing pioneering works such as ''[[Toy Story]]'', ''[[A Bug's Life]]'' and ''[[Cars]]'' among others, but his reputation as an influential animator went down the drain when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced accusing him of "grabbing, kissing, [and] making comments about physical attributes" towards female colleagues, and that Pixar had minders reminding Lasseter to lay off of his perversions. In fairness, he did more or less admit to his "missteps", but still it left a sour taste on those who grew up with the films he directed. The controversy with Lasseter may have also accounted for the removal of a mock blooper scene in recent home media releases of ''[[Toy Story 2]]'' that featured the Prospector suggestively enticing a pair of [[Barbie]] dolls with a role in ''[[Toy Story 3]]''.
* ''[[PAW Patrol]]'' suffered from this during Summer 2020, when it was also caught up in the sociopolitical upheavals of the 2010s-2020s particularly during the wake of the George Floyd protests, where the show was criticised for promoting "copaganda" through its positive portrayal of Chase, the police pup, and also when the show's Twitter account announced that they would go dark in memory of Floyd. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed the show was cancelled due to "cancel culture", but the show denied any such cancellation. This led to "Chase's Ultimate Rescue" episodes temporarily being pulled, and the Nick Jr. website changing an icon of Chase (used to represent ''PAW Patrol'') to an icon of Marshall, the fire pup.
* [[Walt Disney]] is hailed as the godfather of American animation, having been behind such seminal works like ''[[Mickey Mouse]]'', ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' and many others, but in recent years his legacy has been peppered with accusations of racism, sexism and antisemitism (which [[Seth McFarlane]] is more than happy to throw potshots at in ''[[Family Guy]]''), as well as the fact that the company which bears his name has infamously lobbied to keep Mickey out of public domain, not to mention that the company's sway and influence over global culture gave Walt the dubious honour of being a purveyor of [[Eagleland Osmosis|American cultural imperialism]] (e.g. the criticism towards [[Disneyland]] Paris). Much of the accusations leveled towards him were addressed by both his peers and historians, however: The Walt Disney Family Museum acknowledges the ethnic stereotypes present in at least some of his films during his heyday, and it wasn't unique to Disney either as studios like [[Warner Bros]]. has made similarly insensitive content before. In addition, Walt regularly donated to Jewish causes and hired Jewish and black people as well.
* The renovated dark ride based on ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]''
* [[Looney Tunes]] character Pepé Le Pew gained notoriety in recent years{{when}} as his dogged pursuit of love–to which other characters express revulsion largely due to his unpleasant odour–did not age well with modern audiences who viewed Pepé's actions as "normalising rape culture". Linda Jones-Clough, daughter of Pepé's creator [[Chuck Jones]], disagrees with the contemporary assessment however, as she opined that in no way was Chuck Jones intent on depicting a sexual predator, but to poke fun as screenwriter Tedd Pierce's "ladies' man" status and his then-lack of success with romancing women at the time. Nonetheless, Warner Bros. announced that Pepé had been cut from ''[[Space Jam: A New Legacy]]'', and would no longer be included in its current Looney Tunes roster.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* A particular style of shoe sold by C. & J. Clark, one of the largest shoe manufacturing firms in the UK,
** British supermarket chain Tesco wasn't spared from a similar controversy either, when
* The Ford Pinto was an economy car deserving of merit, if not for its [[Achilles' Heel]] that is the gas tank flaw which [[Every Car Is a Pinto|made the car combust in a rear-end collision]], and the subsequent controversy ensuing from it. Ford reportedly decided that paying out on wrongful-death lawsuits would be cheaper than fixing it.
* Heck, even Henry Ford himself had his reputation smeared, no thanks to his antisemitic views. He was one of the few Americans whom [[Adolf Hitler]] admired and mentioned in ''[[Mein Kampf]]''. Ford also had the canard ''The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem'', as well as the forgery ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'', republished. Ironically enough, he also hired black employees as well as women and people with disabilities, and if one source was to be believed, Ford was reportedly so distraught by the extent of the atrocities of the [[Holocaust]] that "he collapsed with a stroke – his last and most serious" after he was shown newsreel footage of what transpired at the time. Even more ironic was that he was a Freemason, a secretive fraternal society often if not always alleged to have been plotting for a New World Order amongst other conspiracies, and is generally viewed with contempt if not outright condemnation by most Christian denominations (especially the Roman Catholic Church), not to mention that Hitler had the Freemasonry, amongst other similar societies, purged during the Holocaust. If the likes of [[Alex Jones]] are virulently campaigning against Freemasonry and the NWO, the idea of an ''inducted Freemason'' [[Boomerang Bigot|believing in and espousing the same beliefs]] as Jones and co. would certainly confuse some people.
* Fashion designer [[Coco Chanel]] is arguably the most famous couturier in history, having popularised the little black dress, Chanel No. 5 and a few others. She was however known for her alleged anti-Semitism and collaboration with the Nazis, which unsurprisingly soured her reputation post-mortem, particularly when more details about the less-savoury aspects of her life were declassified in the 2010s. The company which now bears her name tried to refute and downplay her role as a Nazi agent, though the stigma still remains.
* Same goes with Hugo Boss, whose eponymous founder designed the uniforms worn by Nazi officers and utilised slave labour (from concentration camp inmates no less) in producing them.
* The teleconferencing platform Zoom received a surge in popularity during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] where people are forced indoors to prevent the spread of the virus and are thus restricted to remote meetings. This however turned to infamy when numerous security and privacy issues with Zoom surfaced, one such incident with Pasig City, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGkexC_x5zE Philippines mayor Vico Sotto having his meeting raided by an errant troll who shoved in what appears to be a sexually-explicit picture of a naked man sitting on a chair].
* 5G cellular technology also had its reputation tainted no thanks to the above-mentioned pandemic. The reason? [[Cloudcuckoolander]] [[Conspiracy Theorist]]s accusing the radio standard of somehow facilitating the spread of the virus. This got to the point where paranoid and gullible people bought into the canard and left comments blindly accusing 5G for causing the disease (even though there's substantial evidence to the contrary, and 5G coverage hasn't been that widespread yet even in areas where it was deployed), and some took it [[Up To Eleven]] by [[What an Idiot!|raiding]] cell sites and firebombing the masts to knock them offline. Unsurprisingly, those who attempted to do such an imbecilic act were arrested for their antics, and social media users joked about how they were unable to get cellular coverage as a result of such idiocy-induced terrorism. Not helping matters are charlatans who are quick to cash in on the scare by selling (phony) deterrents against 5G radio waves in the form of USB-OTG devices to be plugged on a cellphone, and those spreading [[Chain Letter]]s on Facebook and elsewhere alleging a sinister scheme linked to 5G and vaccines against COVID-19, sometimes using the "satanic panic" canard for added shock value.
** Such mass paranoia over cellular technologies are nothing new, however. Back when cellphones and text messaging started gaining mainstream adoption in the late 90s to early 2000s, fears about electromagnetic radiation emitted by cellular towers and cellphones themselves started circulating on the internet and through word of mouth, and some cashed in by selling so-called "anti-radiation" decals meant to be placed on cellphones, purportedly to mitigate the radiation coming from said devices.
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* As mentioned in the ''Toddlers and Tiaras'' example, child beauty pageants have earned something of a dubious reputation no thanks to controversies over age-appropriateness, working conditions and issues with sexualization of children participating in such contests. While some pageants are more or less innocuous and are by no means malicious in nature such as in the case of the "Little Miss Philippines" segment in ''[[Eat Bulaga!]]'', with which notable actresses such as [[Ryzza Mae Dizon]] and [[Ice Seguerra]] first became famous for, the over-the-top and borderline paedophilic things stage mothers have their daughters subjected to has led some jurisdictions to either restrict or outright ban pageants for children under 13.
* Once well-established as a leading and prestigious authority in human and natural superlatives, the ''[[Guinness Book Of World Records]]'' has since been viewed with scorn and ridicule over the past few years at least in some circles:
** Critics of the ''Records'' contend that the organisation has become something of a vanity show especially with the change in business model due to the decline in book sales in favour of the Internet and social media. One could pay top dollar to have their names on print, even if it meant doing the most bizarre or useless stunt such as
** Amongst gaming circles, the ''Records'' has also become something of a joke especially in light of the Billy Mitchell and Todd Rogers high score scandals. Mitchell in particular had his title stripped by Twin Galaxies due to issues as to the veracity of his records, but these were dubiously reinstated by Guinness shortly after. Their lack of expertise in games and overall reputation as an adjudicator of superlatives has led some gamers, one of them being speedrunning commentator Karl Jobst, to call for Guinness to stay out of video gaming as the community has already established reputable authorities to moderate and verify gaming records.
** A number of categories and records were also retired due to ethical and safety concerns, particularly with food and more dangerous stunts. The "youngest mother" record in particular was removed out of respect for a South American mother whose [[Squick|childhood pregnancy]] was an unfortunate story of its own.
* Toyota's reputation took a hit when a scandal broke out from a now-infamous 911 call of a man and his family panicking as they were trying to put their Toyota to stop to no avail, crashing into another car and falling into a ravine, resulting in the death of all passengers. This and several other incidents prompted the Japanese automaker to issue a mandatory recall of affected models, along with investigations and hearings from American legislators seeking to probe on the rash of incidents involving Toyotas as well as
* Junípero Serra was praised for establishing Franciscan missions in and around what was then Spanish-occupied California, and was beatified by [[The Pope|Pope John Paul II]] on 25 September 1988 in the [[Vatican City]]. His missionary work was however tainted and criticised especially in later years by Native American groups who accused the priest of genocide, subjugation and forced conversion of Indigenous American groups into Catholicism. Such was the outrage that several monuments erected in his honour were either [[Off with His Head|decapitated]] or otherwise desecrated in protest of Serra's alleged atrocities. Other Native Americans however were more positive towards Serra and his canonisation to sainthood, and had no ill feelings towards his missions in California.
* Photobucket used to be the go-to place to upload albums upon albums of images and videos for those who need to embed images on a website or forum, but don't have their own web space to host them to. But not only was the $399 subscription fee–first implemented in 2017 and required for users to embed images–tantamount to extortion (they later changed it to $4.48 to $11.48 monthly, but still...), it was also seen as a ''nightmare'' for internet historians, archivists and those who had years if not decades worth of irreplaceable images now replaced with watermarked versions due to Photobucket's draconian business model. This ultimately cemented Photobucket's contemporary reputation as a now-washed up and has-been image host, especially as the likes of Imgur have overshadowed it.
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=== Sports ===
* Nowadays, people associate [[Mike Tyson]] more with his infamous "Bite Fight" with Evander Hollyfield and domestic violence issues which led to his conviction at some point. Though on a more positive note, people also remember Tyson as the final boss character in [[Nintendo]]'s ''[[Punch-Out!!]]''; subsequent releases of the game omitted Tyson in favour of a generic boxer named "Mr. Dream", due in part to said controversies however.
* [[O.J. Simpson]] is better remembered for the murder scandal and subsequent "Trial of the Century" than any of his acting and/or sports credentials. His notoriety also spilled over somewhat to the fifth-generation Ford Bronco, especially when it gained national attention for being the vehicle used in a police chase involving Simpson. Ford discontinued the model two years later, but not due to the notoriety from the O.J. Simpson case, though the spectre of the O.J. Simpson chase still somewhat lingered on when Ford announced that they were to unveil the 2021 Bronco on July 9th, 2020, which coincidentally fell on Simpson's birthday.
* Zinedine Zidane's [[Use Your Head|headbutt]] episode with Italian player Marco Materazzi gained so much notoriety that it's basically what most people, especially those who have next to no knowledge of football, know of him. It didn't help that Zidane getting booted out of the field with a red card cost France its victory in the 2006 World Cup game with Italy, though it didn't seem to matter with Zidane as hearing his opponent's denigrating remarks against his sister was too much for him to tolerate. Initial speculation from British tabloid newspapers ''The Times'', ''The Sun'' and ''Daily Star'' claimed they hired lip readers and stated that Materazzi scoffed Zidane as "the son of a terrorist whore"; Materazzi disputed said claims, eventually winning public apologies from ''The Sun'' and ''Daily Star'' in 2008, as well as libel damages from all three British newspapers.
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