A parody advertisement is a fictional

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

for a non-existent product, either done within another advertisement for an actual product, or done simply as

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of advertisements—used either as a way of ridiculing or drawing negative attention towards a real advertisement or such an advertisement's subject, or as a comedic device, such as in a comedy skit or sketch.

Overview

A parody advertisement should not be confused with a fictional brand name used in a program to avoid giving free advertising to an actual product, or to the use of a fictional brand name in an actual advertisement used for comparison, which is sometimes done as opposed to comparing the product to an actual competitor. (In some countries,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

for example, it is illegal to make disparaging comments about a competitor's product in an advertisement, even if the statements are proven to be true.) A parody advertisement can be one in which the advertisement appears to ''actually be a real ad for'' the false product, but then the advertisement is somehow exposed to be a parody and if it is an actual advertisement the actual brand becomes clear. If it is simply a parody it may or may not indicate that it is one.

Notable examples

Candy

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Topps Chewing Gum Company released a product called '' Wacky Packages'', in which stickers showing various products were shown in ridiculous scenes, such as * Hawaiian Punch fruit drink, was parodied as "Hawaiian Punks. Beats you to a fruit-juicy pulp." * Eveready Batteries, with its image of a cat having 9 lives, was parodied as "NeveReady Batteries, has 0 lives," and an image of a dead cat.

Film

*''

Tropic Thunder ''Tropic Thunder'' is a 2008 Satire (film and television), satirical Action comedy, action comedy film directed by Ben Stiller, who wrote the screenplay with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., ...

'': In addition to ''

''s (in)famous fake movie trailers, the film has a parody ad for the fake products 'Booty Sweat'

energy drink An energy drink is a type of non-alcoholic psychoactive functional beverage containing stimulant compounds, usually caffeine (at a higher concentration than ordinary soda pop) and taurine, which is marketed as reducing tiredness and improving pe ...

and 'Bust-A-Nut'

candy bar A candy bar is a type of portable candy that is in the shape of a bar. The most common type of candy bar is the chocolate bar, including both bars made of solid chocolate and combination candy bars, which are candy bars that combine chocolate wi ...

. As part of the film's marketing 'Booty Sweat' has been made into a real life energy drink. *''

Bamboozled ''Bamboozled'' is a 2000 American satirical black comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the resulting violent fallout from the show's succe ...

'':

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

's satire has fake ads for 'Da Bomb'

malt liquor In the United States of America, Malt liquor is a type of mass market beer with high alcohol content, (typically above 5%), made with malted barley and resembling those for American-style lagers. Manufacture Malt liquor is a strong lager or ale ...

and a racistly named parody of

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( ; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger (company), Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's P ...

. In addition to the appearance in ''

'', 'Da Bomb' makes appearances in three other Spike Lee films, '' Clockers'', '' Inside Man'', and '' Sucker Free City''. *'' Grindhouse'': The film '' Grindhouse'' has trailers for a number of fictional films. These include ''

Machete A machete (; ) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe, or in combat like a long-bladed knife. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the Spanish language, the word is possibly a dimin ...

'', in which the FBI hires a mercenary rather than risk their own agents on a potential suicide mission; ''Werewolf Women of the SS'' about a group of women who run a Nazi death camp; ''Don't'', an exploitative horror film; ''Thanksgiving'', a slasher film in the genre of the ''

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

'' series; and ''Hobo With a Shotgun'' about a vigilante killer similar to the premise of the film '' Death Wish''. The trailer for ''Machete'' was so well received it has actually been made into a full-length feature film as well as ''Hobo with a Shotgun''. *''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American Science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen (actress), Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Dani ...

'': Parody advertisements are seen throughout the ''RoboCop'' franchise for products such as the "6000 SUX", a parody of the low fuel economy of many American-made cars at that time, the game "NUKEM", a parody of

Battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

, and "Magnavolt", a car security system designed to electrocute and kill would-be carjackers. *''

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

'': The Weird Al Yankovic film ''

'' has a few fake ads within the film, such as "Spatula City", a store that sells nothing but spatulas, as well as promos for fake TV shows and movies like " Conan the Librarian" and " Gandhi II". *'' Cяazy People'': The 1990 film ''Cяazy People'' is about an advertising executive who work in a psychiatric hospital with a number of patients to create "truthful" advertisements, often over-the-top and with explicit language, for mostly real-life products and brands. *The 2013 film '' Movie 43'' featured a few parody ads such as "iBabe" spots, "Machine Kids" (a mock public service announcement), and a faux Tampax commercial. *'' C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America'': The 2004 mockumentary about the history of how the fictional Confederate States of America rose to power after winning the American Civil War is presented as a documentary airing on Confederate television. As such, the movie has commercial parodies that are racialist and are aimed towards white slave-owning families. Many of the products advertised in the film actually existed in the past.

Television

*The American

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

series ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' produces fictional commercials on a regular basis, usually shown after the guest host's monologue as an " introductory commercial", prior to the beginning of the main show. While many of these ads parody actual TV commercials, they are simple '' comedic parodies'' of the style of the real advertisement rather than its product. *Likewise, many subsequent sketch comedy programs have utilized parody advertisements, including ''

Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animation, adult stop motion, stop-motion animated sketch comedy television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The twelve-minute ...

'', ''

MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...

'', '' In Living Color'' and '' The Idiot Box''. *'' Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' frequently featured surreal advertisements for products and services from an in-universe megacorporation known as Cinco. These commercials often advertised products of an outlandish, unappealing, or otherwise questionable nature, including badly-named toys such as the "B'owl" (a cross between a bat and owl) and "T'ird" (a cross between a bird and turtle), products based on outdated technology (such as the "Cinco-Fone" and "Cinco

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

Organizer"), products related to urination and defecation, unusual body modifications (such as a "Food Tube", "Bro-oche", and "Eye Tanning System") that require the user's teeth be removed as part of installation, and a children's jukebox that generates hallucinatory "dance tones". Likewise, some sketches consisted of promos for equally-surreal programs on the in-universe television station Channel 5. *'' Short Circuitz'', an

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

sketch comedy show starring

Nick Cannon Nicholas Scott Cannon (born October 8, 1980) is an American comedian, television presenter, actor, and rapper. In television, he began his career as a teenager on Nickelodeon's '' All That'' before going on to host '' The Nick Cannon Show'', '' ...

, often featured parodies of popular advertisements. Its accompanying website
ShortCircuitz.mtv.com
allows users to upload their own parody advertisements to compete for a cash prize and a spot on the show.

Fictional advertisements for real products

*In the 1990s, the most famous series of parody advertisements were those for the Energizer battery. A parody itself of a Duracell battery commercial, in its initial commercial episode first shown in October 1989, a toy pink rabbit, is being filmed in a commercial. The toy, powered by the battery, escapes the studio and begins a rampage, pounding a drum and rolling through other commercials being made, including those for coffee, wine, a fictional upcoming TV series, long-distance service, breakfast cereal, and sinus medication. A total of 120 fictional commercials and 4 real ones (for Twinkies, Purina Cat Chow,

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

, and Duracell) in both English and Spanish involving the Energizer Bunny were made. *In 1991, Eveready Battery Company sued the

Adolph Coors Company The Adolph Coors Company was formerly a holding company in Golden, Colorado controlled by the heirs of founder Adolph Coors. Its principal subsidiary was the Coors Brewing Company. The brewery was founded in 1873. In 2005, Adolph Coors Co. me ...

over an ad for Coors beer it was producing, which showed actor

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926November 28, 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. He made his a ...

in a full-size rabbit suit pounding a drum, which was parodying Eveready's Energizer Bunny commercials, which themselves are parodies of Duracell advertisements and television program previews. Eveready claimed Coors' ad constituted copyright and trademark infringement. The court ruled that Coors' ad was a valid parody of Eveready's, considering that Mr. Nielsen "is not a toy, and does not run on batteries." '' Eveready Battery Co. v. Adolph Coors Co.'', 765 F. Supp. 440 (N.D. Ill. 1991). *The

GEICO The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is an American vehicle insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In addition to auto insurance, GEICO provides motorcycle, ATV, RV, boat, snowmobile, travel, pet, event, hom ...

insurance company ran a series of television commercials in which a victim in a disadvantaged situation hears their fate from the

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Bob Vila showing a victim couple with a home badly in need of repair, a fictional news report on a volcanic eruption, and a fictional hair restoration commercial. Another example parodied advertisements for

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...

shows, by showing a couple getting married, and getting disgruntled at living in a tiny house (the punchline: a voiceover saying "The drama may be real, but it won't save you any money on car insurance", followed by the wife asking her spouse in their tiny hot tub "Why haven't you called GEICO?"). *The

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

company's lemon-lime soft drink Sprite ran a series of ads for other fictional drink products, which had actual or fictional celebrities endorsing the other product, with the implication that the fictional product was inadequate for quenching one's thirst. *The gimmick of characters from a commercial invading other spoof ads was first used by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Lager brewers Carling Black Label. The advert featured a wild west outlaw being roped by a posse and dragging them off their horses and into adverts for a love compilation Album and Washing up powder. *The 2005 "Poser Mobile Posse" in a print, online and point-of-sale campaign created by Publicis Seattle for T-Mobile's pay-as-you-go cell phone plan was an ethnically diverse group of

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

poser Poser or Posers may refer to: People *Poseur, a person who inauthentically adopts a certain subculture *Bob Poser (1910–2002), U.S. baseball player *Charles Poser (1923–2010), Belgian-American neurologist *Christian Poser (born 1986), German ...

s with racially stereotyped Latino, Asian, and white characters like "Big Spenda Lopez", "The Fee Jones", "25 cent Chang" who inauthentically appropriate Black culture, and in one video ad arrive in a stereotypical rice burner faux sports car. The group ambush cell phone customers demanding hidden cell phone service charges and fees, but are rebuffed and called "posers" or "clowns". It is somewhat of a

Boost Mobile DISH Wireless L.L.C., doing business as Boost Mobile, is an American telecommunications company and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. Boost Mobile is the List of mobile network operators in the United States, fourth largest wirele ...

's "Where You At?" advertising campaign which features prominent

artists such as

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, spoken as "ludicrous" in American English), is an American rapper and songwriter. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

, and The Game.

Magazines and print

Mad Magazine

'' Mad Magazine'' was notorious for regularly running obviously fictional ads for nonexistent products. However, many of these nonexistent products were clearly intended to be parodies of specific well-known brands of real-world products; frequently, the fictional advertisement in ''Mad'' parodied a specific genuine ad campaign for a recognizable brand-name product. For example, in the 1960s (when cigarettes could still be advertised on television), Kent Cigarettes ran a commercial featuring a series of line drawings illustrating the lyrics of a catchy jingle titled "The Taste of Kent". ''Mad'' promptly ran a fake print ad, using drawings which parodied the style of the line art, illustrating verses about lung cancer and emphysema to a lyric that parodied Kent's jingle, now titled "The Taste of Death". According to Frank Jacobs's biography '' The Mad World of William M. Gaines'', Mad's parodies of real advertisements generated so much attention that Mad publisher William Gaines received requests from the promotional departments of many real products, asking Mad to run parodies of their advertisements. Gaines's standard reply to such requests: "Come up with a really stupid ad campaign, and we'll be happy to make fun of it."

Hustler

The most serious incident involving a fictional advertisement in a magazine caused a lawsuit which reached all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, when Hustler Magazine ran a parody of a liquor ad which would ask people about their "first time." In the actual ad, what we are led to believe is that the person is being asked about their first sexual experience, when it turns out the question is about their first time they used the sponsor's product, a liqueur. In the parody advertisement in ''Hustler'', the Reverend

Jerry Falwell Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch ...

, at the time a prominent promoter of

social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on Tradition#In political and religious discourse, traditional social structures over Cultural pluralism, social pluralism. Social conservatives ...

and opponent of

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

, is supposedly quoted describing the first time he had sexual intercourse with his mother in an outhouse while intoxicated. Falwell sued Hustler Magazine and its publisher Larry Flynt for invasion of privacy, libel and emotional distress. The jury found for the magazine on the issue of libel (the fictional advertisement clearly indicated it was a parody), but awarded Mr. Falwell $350,000 in damages for the emotional distress and invasion of privacy claims. The Supreme Court ruled that, since the advertisement was so obviously a parody that no reasonable person could have believed it, Falwell was not libelled and thus is not entitled to damages for emotional distress, and he was not entitled to damages for invasion of privacy because he is a well-known public figure. '' Hustler Magazine, Inc. et al. v. Jerry Falwell'', 485 U.S. 46, (1988).

Other examples

*The Adbusters Media Foundation's magazine ''Adbusters'' feature
advertisement parodies
that are intended as sharp commentary on the social implications of either the product or the advertising campaign involved (also known as "

Culture jamming Culture jamming (sometimes also guerrilla communication) is a form of protest used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. It at ...

"). One example is a parody of the "

Joe Camel Joe Camel (also called Old Joe) was an advertising mascot used by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) for their cigarette brand Camel (cigarette), Camel. The character was created in 1974 for a French advertising campaign, and was redesign ...

" advertising campaign for

Camel Cigarettes Camel is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in the United States and by Japan Tobacco outside the U.S. Most recently Camel cigarettes contain a blend of Turkish tobacco and Vi ...

, with a pseudo Joe Camel in a hospital bed, his head bald and an

intravenous drip Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutr ...

bottle leading into his arm, with the legend "Joe Chemo" on the faux ad, implying that the many years of smoking cigarettes has left "Joe" with cancer and requiring

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

treatment

*The

Wrigley Company Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, also known as Wrigley Company or simply Wrigley's, is an American multinational candy and chewing gum company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois. Wrigley's is a subsidiary ...

created fictional print ads for

Juicy Fruit Juicy Fruit is an American brand of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company, a U.S. company that since 2008 has been a subsidiary of the privately held Mars, Incorporated. It was introduced in 1893, and in the 21st century the brand name is reco ...

, such as boy bands, an upcoming fictional movie poster, and a phony handheld game system. * Games Magazine, a monthly publication featuring game- and puzzle-related material, through the 1980s carried a fake ad feature noted (without page number) in each issue's contents with the tagline, ''"Which of the pitches is full of hitches?"'' One featured item was an abacus simulator running on PCs made by the nonexistent Nat Soh Software Co. of Hong Kon

The challenge to readers was to scrutinize all of the ads to spot the fake.

Miscellaneous

*Superhero-themed rock band

The Aquabats The Aquabats are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Huntington Beach, California, in 1994. Throughout many fluctuations in the group's line-up, singer Christian Jacobs, the MC Bat Commander and bassist Chad Larson, Crash McLarson have ...

are notorious for styling their live shows after

Saturday morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series and live-action programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre was a ...

s, including engaging in scripted onstage battles with costumed monsters and villains. Normally, when these villains crash the stage, the concert will "cut to commercial" and a video screen behind the band will project a pre-recorded advertisement for an outlandish (and obviously fake) toy or product before returning to the show. In 2012, The Aquabats produced their own television series, '' The Aquabats! Super Show!'', which also regularly features such parody commercials. *An edited ad for a fictional Girl of the Year character wearing a track suit, bob haircut and wielding a

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

while defiantly violating face mask guidelines mandated due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

as a personification of the " Karen" stereotype, provoked criticism from

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

subsidiary American Girl who took umbrage to the use of their name and

trade dress Trade dress is the characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers. Trade dress is an aspect of trademark law, which is a form of intelle ...

, stating that they were "disgusted" by a post from brand strategist Adam Padilla under the online persona "Adam the Creator", and "are working with the appropriate teams at American Girl to ensure this copyright violation is handled appropriately."

Boing Boing ''Boing Boing'' is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twice wo ...

however expressed doubts over the merits of American Girl's proposed legal action against the "Karen" parodies citing the

Streisand effect The Streisand effect is an unintended consequences, unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or Censorship, censor information, where the effort instead increases public awareness of the information. The term was coined in 2005 by ...

, though it has also noted the debate on whether the satirical intent of the parody advertisement is protected by law. *Italy's most listened radio show "

Lo Zoo di 105 ''Lo Zoo di 105'' () is a radio program created by the Italian radio host Marco Mazzoli and broadcast on Radio 105 Network. The program is based on numerous impersonation of famous people and popular films and TV shows, prank calls and dirty talk. ...

" ran a parody ad featuring a fictional luxury watches' brand Orologi Fumagazzi: two young listeners registered the trademark overnight, launching a real watches' collection with hilarious names and descriptions the very same week.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parody Advertisement

Advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...