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{{trope}}
[[File:FLORIDA 4899.png|link=Team Fortress 2|
{{quote|''"Any outdoorsman will tell you the most frustrating part of hunting is when a deer simply FALLS DOWN when shot, and doesn't [[Blown Across the Room|FLY BACKWARD]] into the forest. Those days are over. Anything hit by this baby better PACK A LUNCH, 'cause it is going for a ride!"''
|''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', advertising the Scout's new weapon.}}
This [[Comedy Trope]] is a kissing cousin of both the [[Show Within a Show]] and the [[Commercial Switcheroo]]. Typically placed immediately at the end of a segment, it seems like the show you're watching has just cut to the mid-show commercial break. However, it quickly becomes evident (ideally in about the time it takes most folks to start getting out of their La-Z-Boy) that the commercial is actually a fake-out, for an absurd or grotesque product.
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{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* [[Orangina]] has recently{{when}} made [https://web.archive.org/web/20120909185931/http://www.orangina.fr/category/publicites/ a series of commercials] that parody various commercial types - for instance, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVYAN5OlhBc Orangina body deodorant].
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* The ''[[Black Butler]]'' bonus episode has a parody commercial for Funtom Company dog food and a parody preview for "The Black Sushi Chef" (based off of a parody image in volume 5).
* ''[[Magikano]]'' and ''[[Seto no Hanayome]]'' (both directed by Seiji Kishi) parodies commercials reminiscent to the way it's done in [[Western Animation]] to get a joke across. Goes something like this: Have a problem? Then, have we the product just for you! See [[Before and After Pictures|"Before" and "After"]]; [[This Product Will Change Your Life]] so well that you've just gotta have it! [[But Wait! There's More!]]: If you call now, you'll get a uselss [[Free Prize At the Bottom]]! And all of this for only 9980 yen! So, what are you waiting for? [[Operators Are Standing By]]! Call now! To order, please dial [[Ridiculously Long Number]] [[555|0000-4155-XXXX-55XX-0000]] today! [[Side Effects Include]] sneezing, coughing, vomiting, fainting, zit faces, heart attacks and turning into a green-skinned monster and may vary according to its user. [[Unreadable Disclaimer]]s or [[Rattling Off Legal]]s may apply.
== [[Comedy]] ==▼
* Brazilian comedy group Casseta & Planeta are famous for this. First, they were parodying real commercials. When they started their TV show, they instead created fictional products sold by the "monopolist megaconglomerate" [[Acme Products|Organizações Tabajara]]. At a certain point, a rival company, Grupo Capivara, appeared. Since it was the same thing as the original, they were sold to a working-class man, "Seu Creysson" (parodying the fact that a Brazilian airline was sold by $1) and started selling products focused on poor people, such as a "palmtop" which consisted of writing on the person's hand.▼
* [[Tim Wilson]]'s ''Hillbilly Homeboy'' album ends with a fake commercial advertising an album called "Love Songs for Losers".▼
== [[Film]] ==
* The [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] movie ''[[UHF (film)|UHF]]'' contains a number of these, including commercials for TV shows such as "Conan the Librarian" and movies such as "Gandhi II".
* ''[[CSA: Confederate States of America]]'', a parody film depicting what it would be like if the South had won [[American Civil War|the war]], had commercial breaks throughout the mock documentary that showed commercials that would have appealed to that country at the time, involving slavery more often than not. About half of them feature products with racist names and/or mascots that [[Aluminum Christmas Trees|really existed]]... in the North... ''after'' the Civil War.
* The three films of the ''[[RoboCop]]'' series featured fake commercials breaking up the storyline, including one for an ultra powerful sunblock to exposit that the ozone layer had been destroyed in the film's reality, although the sunblock itself could be harmful to the health if overused.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Both ''[[Mad TV]]'' and ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' have employed this concept for years, advertising bogus products in order to make fun of various [[Advertising Tropes]] or make fun of a current event (such as the cold opening on the Jonah Hill episode from season 33 where disgraced governor Eliot Spitzer [Bill Hader] advertises a new law firm that deals with sexual court cases, such as injuries from faulty vibrators, U.S. customs seizing German porn, and slip and falls in gay bath houses). For SNL, "[[Happy Fun Ball]]" is probably the best-known; ''[[Mad TV]]'', meanwhile, featured a plush toy called "Tickle Me Emo", an angsty, stereotypically emo version of Elmo from Sesame Street ("You don't understand what I'm going through!"). Other sketch shows, like ''Fridays'', ''[[In Living Color]]'', ''WB's Hype'', and ''[[SCTV]]'' have done fake commercials, though it can be safe to say ''SNL'' and ''[[Mad TV]]'' have the most memorable parodies.
** "Hi, I'm Sam Waterson... [https://web.archive.org/web/20120127010105/http://www.hulu.com/watch/2340/saturday-night-live-old-glory Robots are everywhere...]"
** Somethin's always cookin at the [https://web.archive.org/web/20100303172341/http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/cluckin-chicken/229063
** [[The Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]] sketches were presented with a listing of fictional sponsors ("Brought to you by Dog Assassin. When you can't bear to put him to sleep, maybe it's time to call Dog Assassin!")
** Inverted by the rare spoof commercial to spawn a ''real'' product. A 1990 SNL spot pitched the "Chia Head," a sort of Chia Pet treatment to replace lost hair. Five years later, Joseph Enterprises, the novelty's maker, began selling ''actual'' Chia Heads modeled after various cartoon characters... and later a version in "tribute" to [[Barack Obama]].
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** ... which is why longtime editor Bill Gaines wouldn't carry ads.
* ''GAMES'' magazine used to run a fake ad in every issue. It was listed in the table of contents with the tagline, "Which of the pitches is full of hitches?"
* ''Computer Games Magazine'' frequently runs ads for [https://web.archive.org/web/20131206190955/http://www.phobe.com/sfi/sigmain.html fictional game studio Schadenfreude Interactive]. Because, honestly, who can resist [[Survival Horror]] karaoke, [[Steel Battalion|Mecha-assisted]] fishing, and racing against elder gods?
* The pornographic magazine ''Hustler'' would carry parody ads, usually to express Larry Flynt's opinions and beliefs.
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* "Divers Ayres On Sundrie Notions" by [[PDQ Bach]], a series of 18th-century style singing commercials.
* The music video for [[Foo Fighters]]' song "Big Me" gives us "Footos: the Fresh Fighter" as a parody of Menthos ads.
* [[Modern Man]]'s song "Side Effects" starts out with a parody commercial for "Triadose", a treatment for "Hyper-umbilical Fibrosis" (too much belly button lint).
== [[Radio]] ==
* ''[[A Prairie Home Companion]]'' does these regularly, for a range of products including Bee-Bop-A-Ree-Bop Rhubarb Pie and Powdermilk Biscuits.
** Though in this case it's Garrison Keillor's [[George Lucas Throwback]] to the old radio variety shows that had prominent sponsorships. To wit: the show's house band is even named after a fictitious brand of shoe.
▲== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ==
▲* Brazilian comedy group Casseta & Planeta are famous for this. First, they were parodying real commercials. When they started their TV show, they instead created fictional products sold by the "monopolist megaconglomerate" [[Acme Products|Organizações Tabajara]]. At a certain point, a rival company, Grupo Capivara, appeared. Since it was the same thing as the original, they were sold to a working-class man, "Seu Creysson" (parodying the fact that a Brazilian airline was sold by $1) and started selling products focused on poor people, such as a "palmtop" which consisted of writing on the person's hand.
▲* [[Tim Wilson]]'s ''Hillbilly Homeboy'' album ends with a fake commercial advertising an album called "Love Songs for Losers".
* Given that they originated in radio, it's not surprising that [[The Firesign Theatre]]'s albums are frequently structured like broadcast media, with interruptions for mock commercials. Most notable in this regard is ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers'', which comes across as mostly eavesdropping on someone watching TV in a twisted alternate version of Earth. The story, such as it is, is punctuated by commercials for products like [[Captain Ersatz|Ersatz Brothers Coffee]] and [[Yellow Snow|Bear Whiz Beer]], and political ads for candidates whose ideology is... difficult to understand.
== [[Theatre]] ==
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* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' features Spark Roast Coffee, with the slogan "[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071015 Perfection in every cup]", outdoing Nestle's "Coffee's perfect mate" that probably inspired it.
** Note that the advertised product ''[[Never Needs Sharpening|has]]'' [[Exact Words|perfection]] in every cup. In that [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070620 a good gulp] makes people, indeed, clearly perceive perfection. [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070625 With all senses. In everything.] For hours non-stop.
* [http://www.egscomics.com/backgrounds.page Wallpaper collection] of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' includes "Shrink Soda" ads (note that [[The Nudifier|the clothes are unaffected]]). In somehow related DES comics, [[Mad Artist|Tori Vector]] once [http://danshive.deviantart.com/art/Some-Comic-of-Mine-009-81483916 advertised] one of [[Mad Scientist|Amanda]]'s [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|inventions]] (just don't show [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs|this]] to [[
* ''[[Cyanide & Happiness]]'' in its usual style [http://www.explosm.net/comics/1797/ parodies] overblown commercials.
** Then there's this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EMqd5Nznv0 video], which has two commercials, the first of which is a parody. {{spoiler|(A safety feature thwarts her attempt at [[Car Fu]] which gets her killed.)}}
* ''[[Sinfest]]'' [
* ''[[mezzacotta]]'' has a set of fake ads. Such as: "Visit Finländ. [[Understatement|Sömetimes is snöws]].", "[[Tetris|Tet]][[risk]]: [[X Meets Y|the board game of]] strategic [[A Worldwide Punomenon|block]] conquest", etc.
* ''[[Devil Bear]]'' presents: [http://www.thedevilbear.com/comics.php?p=523 Tupperscare!]
== [[Web Original]] ==
* This is also a common device on the ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' toons.
** [
** The Strong Bad Email [http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail149.html candy product] ends with a commercial for the candy bar SBlounchked!, sending up Mentos-style [[Bottled Cool]] pitches.
* A ''real'' commercial example: PayAttention.org puts out political ads with stereotypical images of waving flags, eagles, happy families, or whatever - only to reveal that the candidate being promoted is, say, a bag of leaves.
* In the [[Whateley Universe]] story "Tales of the MCO", the characters are sitting around watching said television show and [[MSTing]] it. It has parody commercials for upcoming movies. The Ivory-Merchant production of "Hulk 1809" and the Oliver Stone-directed "Foucault's Pendulum". And fake cereal ads.
* [[Banana-nana-Ninja!]]'s Feast Master story arc has Sudoku giving an infomercial-style riff about the Omni-Functional Kitchen Gadget on a colosseum big-screen.
* Ursula Vernon got a section in her gallery for this stuff. Behold "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130707114959/http://www.redwombatstudio.com/wpg2?g2_itemId=233 Red Wombat Tea Co.]".
* The '''Powerthirst''' series of commercials, now [[Defictionalized]].
* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4EEn6KmFUc Lucky Candy commercial] [[Easter Egg]] at the end of [[Bowser's Kingdom]] episode 5.
* ''[[Tobuscus]]'' does a lot of parodies of various commercial and commercial themes, from coffee ("Eight O'Clock Coffee") to clothing ("You're Not a Bottle, Boot") to pistachios ("Trapped in a Pistachio Ad") to Axe body spray ("How To Get Women"). Many of these are [[Product Placement|sponsored by the companies themselves]].
* ''[[Frilly Shirt]]'' includes a number of parody vintage commercials, particularly for the author's own [[Snake Oil Salesman|Patented Leopard Oil]].
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le3XKdVM24k TechnicalVirgin.com]'' was a [[No Budget]] parody of the teaching of "sexual abstinence" as a substitute for proper sex education in schools, in which [[Dawson Casting|then 28-year-old]] [[wikipedia:Melanie Martinez (actress)|Melanie Martinez]] appeared as a [[Catholic School Girls Rule|school girl]] delivering [https://observer.com/2006/08/even-mister-rogers-had-a-past-2/ advice] like “One thing I’m not planning on is getting pregnant. That’s why I choose anal sex. I mean, sure it hurts a little, and I wind up walking funny for a day or two. But I think my future’s worth it.” The original was [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/arts/television/05pbs.html taken offline] in 2004, when "[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2273573/ Melanie]" auditioned as host of ''The Good Night Show'' (2005) on [[PBS Kids|PBS Kids Sprout]].
** PBS Kids Sprout sacked Melanie Martinez in 2006, causing a huge viewer backlash against the main [[PBS]] network. Her career never fully recovered.
* With the advent of AI-based text- and video-generation tools in early 2023 came the inevitable mock commercials created using them. Some of the first and best known, as of this writing:
** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSewd6Iaj6I Pepperoni Hug Spot] - Like family, but with more cheese!
** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlY-iNrqFDo Synthetic Summer Beer(?) Commercial]
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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** It's Log, Log, Log!
* ''[[Futurama]]'' likes to do this on occasion just before the show starts, and has "advertised," among other things, Glagnar's Human Rinds, Molten Boron, and Torgo's Executive Powder in this manner.
** Walrus Juice: [[
** Thompson's Teeth: The only teeth strong enough... to eat '''other teeth''' with!
** CASH, CASH, CASH FOR YOUR BONES! NOT ENOUGH CASH? TOO MANY BONES? CALL CASH BONE! RIBS, SKULLS, SPINES, EVEN CERTAIN TINY EAR BONES! THE LEG BONE'S CONNECTED TO THE CASH BONE!
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* ''[[Histeria!]]'' ran plenty of commercial parodies, each one centering around a historical event (i.e. a record album called "The Greatest Hits of the 1860s") or person (i.e. Raggedy Lyndon Johnson and Squeeze Me Nixon).
* ''[[Animalympics]]'' featured some parody ads, most of which spoofed Olympic endorsement deals.
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'': Our intrepid heroes have been [[Trapped in TV Land|sucked into television-land]] and must battle the biggest bads in television history. The battleground is a commercial for Zinthos, which may or may not be a [[The Corruption|corrupting]], poisonous, blue [[Griping About Gremlins|gremlin]].
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZuN0xXWLc Big Bill Hell's] (warning, link contains swears), a parody car commercial made at a Baltimore TV station in 1990, circulated on VHS tapes for years until [[YouTube]] gave it a new lease on life.
* "At [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfSPcYqbE7s Way North Foods] you'll always find [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0poJ8AZxrPc the highest prices] on the things you need most – [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-food-prices-fake-ad-1.3394396 we guarantee it]!"
** The parody (written by Chris Lihou of Calgary ad agency WAX Partnership, based on pricing reported by Iqaluit's Feeding My Family advocacy group, shot at Family Foods in Calgary with pro-bono actors, production by Joe Media, audio music and voiceover Six Degrees, and largely assembled in the same way as regular ads for regional supermarket chains) flips the usual script where an actor plays a grocer, walking through each aisle and shouting about lower prices for individual items... by boasting that the store is raising prices "way north". (Cost of transporting food to Canada's high Arctic, even with federal Nutrition North subsidies, is typically more than the items were originally worth.) All done completely dead-pan, with the high prices as a selling point, so that the final result looks like a polished, real commercial.
{{reflist}}
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